A Wind's Spiral
by Ndasuunye
Summary: Naruto has brought back Sasuke but that came with a price. That price was death. Yet he escaped death's grasp in exchange for becoming a missing nin. Now many years later a mysterious Hunter nin makes its appearance. Naru/Hina Read and enjoy
1. October 10th

Well this is the story of what happens when Naruto is finally fed up with this pathetic village that is called Konoha. I really hope people like this first chapter, for I plan to do more. Well onto the reading.

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**October 10****th**

Both boys were flowing with dangerous chakra. One boy had purple lips, longer hair that could be compared to Madara and hand like wings sticking out his back. The other boy had a tattered orange jumpsuit on, his nails were now claws, his canines had grew incredibly larger, his blond hair was flowing wild like, his whisker marks grew deeper; more feral like, and had red chakra flowing around him as well as a chakra tail sticking out of him. The boy with the wings was using the power of the Heaven Curse Seal along with the Sharingan bestowed upon by Orochimaru. The feral boy was using the power of Kyuubi no Youkou cursed upon him thanks to Yondaime Hokage, Namikaze Minato.

"Sasuke," yelled the feral boy.

"Hmph Naruto-dobe," retorted the winged boy called Sasuke sarcastically.

Naruto, with his Rasengan forming in one hand looked at Sasuke all the while, while Sasuke looked at Naruto with his corrupt Chidori forming. They then soon jumped up high in the sky coming at each other with this final attack. Sasuke was continually flying while Naruto was steady gliding through the air. They both reeled their attacks back as they came closer and closer. When then were close enough they launched attacks with full force.

"Rasengan/Chidori"

They're attacks collided and made a nasty energy complex. It was so fierce that a large black sphere of energy had formed around them. While their attacks collided Sasuke punched him in the gut. In response Naruto dug his claws somewhat deep into Sasuke's skin making him scream in anguish. Sasuke's attack then dissipated as Naruto's then hit two of Sasuke's vital organs. It wasn't deep enough where Sasuke would die on contact but it was deep enough. Naruto then started to punch him in the ribs repeatedly and then took his legs and twirled him throwing him to the soil then after. He then calmed down as he landed on the water. He walked over it still pumping chakra in his feet. He had to hurry or he would soon pass out from chakra depletion. He had made to the soil in time and looked at the badly beaten Sasuke. He broke some ribs and fractured both his legs. To be on the safe side, he then paralyzed his arms. To Sasuke, it seemed like they were fractured but they weren't. Just badly bruised and now paralyzed. He picked up the young Uchiha and headed into the forest back to Konoha. He did it. He saved his best friend from total darkness. Naruto knew Sasuke would be upset with him for a while but sooner or later he would come to. Meanwhile Kakashi had just made it with Pakku. They stood in awe at the terrible mess. The Valley of the End had looked like war had just taken place here. He checked out the area to scout for Naruto and Sasuke no luck. Had the demon gaki already defeated him and took him home. He hoped so, for Naruto's sake.

Naruto had made it back to Konohagakure no Sato. Suddenly a haul of medic Nin soon arrived on the scene like they saw the future. They took the young Uchiha and quickly headed towards the hospital. Have they forgotten he needed some medical attention too? His wounds couldn't heal quickly this time. He just sighed and told himself that Sasuke was more important right now and they just forgot about him. How wrong he was. He was able to make it back to his home, and collapsed on the bed. He was out for two days. He would have looked for Sakura but he was way too tired. Those two days had passed and he was finally out his home. Yet today, luck wasn't on his side. He walked proudly along the 

streets to his favorite place. After eating there and getting free meals in the process, due to being almost dead two days ago, he walked away. As he walked he bumped into a very depressed Sakura.

"Good morning Sakura. I should have told you I have brought-"

He was interrupted with a hard smack to the face. He skidded backwards awestruck. He turned his head back to see a very infuriated Sakura.

"How, how could you do that to Sasuke?"

"Sa-Sakura what do you mean?"

He met with another smack to the face. This one was harder with more momentum. He felt the stinging in his face still as he turned his head towards. The villagers were watching this fiasco just waiting for their chance.

"You broke poor Sasuke's ribs and fractured his legs and hit a vital organ. He is barely alive because of you."

"WHHAT," yelled Ino. She just happened to walk by the two unnoticeably when she heard it.

Ino didn't have any words to say and Sakura just let her anger get the best of her. Naruto was caught off guard as she punched him in the face. He started to beat the crap out of him. The villagers saw this and used this as their chance. They joined in the beating. Naruto didn't want to hurt his dear Sakura-Chan and knew it was not best to attack villagers. Ino joined in as she couldn't hold her anger anymore making the beating worse. He was getting bruised all over cut burned and was starting to bleed. Konohamaru and Tsunade then joined on the scene to break this up.

"Hey stop beating on Naruto or I will be force to use violence myself."

The villagers turned around to see the faces of none other than a furious Tsunade and Konohamaru.

"But, but-" stuttered a villager but was cut off

"As the grandson of the third Hokage, I demand you relinquish Naruto."

They knew when it was over and no one wanted to disobey the deceased third's grandson. They all complied getting up off the floor.

"You are all arrested for the crime of beating on a fellow ninja. Haruno Sakura and Yamanaka Ino you are no exception." Tsunade then snapped her fingers and five ANBU appeared.

"Apprehend these troublemakers," said Tsunade calmly. One ANBU member protested.

"Hokage-hime, are you sure. I mean among the group is Sakura and Ino and they probably were just in the group to try and stop this."

"Do not question my authority. Apprehend the criminals at once," snapped Tsunade. If she was pushed anymore it could seem that someone would get hurt today. The anbu understood and subjugated the criminals.

Tsunade and Konohamaru both looked at the unconscious body of Naruto. They were worried for the boy. It seemed that he didn't even get medical attention when he came back. He would have to confront the hospital about this.

"Wow Konohamaru, you do a better job than me at this!" exclaimed Tsunade.

"Well yeah, when you're the grandson of a Hokage."

Tsunade picked up Naruto's body and headed off to the hospital. Kakashi had just made it back and headed straight for the hospital.

"Why wasn't this boy given medical attention when he first got here?" asked a very steamed Hokage. The medical Nin was at a loss for words. After a moment of silence someone spoke again

"W-well Hokage-sama, we were dealing with three already badly wounded ninja. We couldn't take Naruto at that time. "

"Nonsense, there are plenty of available medics here. I want a bed for this child now." The last part she said while stomping her foot which caused a small crack under her. No one dared question her about it any further. Shizune just watched her mentor. She wondered why her little brother wasn't here. Seems that the medics just didn't want to help him. She sighed in annoyance and worried.

Half the day had gone by and Tsunade was stuck in her office doing paper work. Suddenly Shizune came barging in with the best of news. "Tsunade-sama you won. You won the lottery. You won 1,000,000 ryo. Congratulations on your win."

Tsunade didn't say anything as she just had a look of pure shock on her face. Then jumped up out of her seat. She and Shizune then held each other's hands and jumped for joy like school girls seeing a cute boy. Tsunade then stopped and got a look of pure seriousness on her face.

"This can't be good."

Suddenly, fine bottle of sake poured out the window. She had sat it next to the window for no particular reason. She screamed as she was filled with sadness. That was one of her finest bottles of sake.

"Oh man this is definitely not good," Shizune retorted.

Naruto had woken up a few minutes later finding himself within the walls of the Konoha hospital. He noticed that unlike the usual, he didn't have on their gown and didn't even look like he was taken care of. It seemed that they just stuck him in a bed and didn't bother helping in any way possible. He sat up his legs off the bed and just hanging. He contemplated on the events that took place.

'_I defeat and bring back Sasuke, get more glares than usual from the villagers, Sakura-Chan decides that it's my fault that teme is hurt so badly and to top it off, I get beaten by her and the villagers more badly then my younger days. Why is this happening to me now?_'

He was brought out of his musing when an anbu appeared before him. He didn't know what was going on. The bird masked anbu then spoke.

"Uzumaki Naruto, you are demanded to come to a council hearing. You are to go immediately. I will take you there "

The anbu then escorted the young blonde out. Much to his surprise, when he got there, every single Konoha ninja was there. Half of the civilians were there as well as Konohamaru being the only academy student there. Even the Ero-sennin Jiraiya was there. He only thought one thing. This couldn't be good.

There were a bunch of council elders that he didn't know who they were nor did he care about them. One man in particular caught his eye. This guy had wraps around his right eye and had a missing left arm. This man started to speak.

"Ok the charge is of Naruto's loss of control. He is now a complete danger to Konoha and must be dealt with at once."

"What are you talking about? What loss of control?" yelled a highly upset and confuse Naruto.

"We know all about the red chakra little gaki, so don't pretend you don't know. Proof of his being out of control is the damage done to the Uchiha. He could have been dead. Luckily he isn't."

"I retort against that. Sasuke was willing to kill Naruto. May I mention that he was using Orochimaru's curse seal on his own accord?"

"You are quite out of line Umino," stated the half mummy firmly. "He was under the control of the curse seal is the reason which he almost defected."

"No that's wrong Danzo. Sasuke chose it himself to leave on his own accord. Kakashi even sealed the curse seal which could only have been broken by Sasuke. He broke it to-" Danzo then cut off Tsunade from speaking any further.

"In any case, I am only looking out for the village and Naruto has proven that he could no longer control his red chakra. In fact I believe it was time we reveal what is hidden in his sleeves. Or more better under his shirt." Danzo smirked as he saw the mummers through the audience.

The jounin knew where this was going and didn't like it excluding one Hatake Kakashi. He was quite glad that something was to be done about this demon gaki. Kakashi never really like Naruto much, due to having a similar mind like the villagers. Although he knew that the Kyuubi was just sealed within the boy, he let his hatred of his sensei dying cloud his train of thought. As for the rest of the jounin teachers, they liked the hyper active knucklehead. He was just a container and nothing more. Sure he did pranks and could get on people nerves. Yet that didn't mean he was the fox incarnate. The rookie nine and team Gai was wondering what they could be talking about. What was so special about that red chakra? Lee and Hinata was the only one that of course didn't see it.

"You are not allowed to mention that to the younger generation and you know that Danzo. That law was decreed by the third Hokage himself and is still upheld today."

"Jiraiya, you are not here to spew irrational knowledge. Yet I guess you're right nonetheless. That doesn't mean that his law can't be overruled. All in favor of the third's rule to be veto?"

All the council elders including Danzo raised their heads. Among the clan leaders, none raised their hand except Hyuuga Hiashi and Aburame Shibi. Both Chouza and Shikaku sighed at their friend's ignorance. They stayed quiet nonetheless. The civilian portion of the council votes didn't count so they didn't matter right then.

"The votes have been decided and the third's decree is no longer valid. Koharu, if you will be so kind."

She accepted Danzo's offer and stood as she announced it. Everyone who cared panicked. They were about to do something heinous

"You have all been told that the Yondaime Hokage has defeated Kyuubi no Youkou 12 years prior. Well that was partially correct. He did in fact put a stop against the malevolent power of the fox. Yet he didn't have the power to actually kill it. So he had to give his life to stop it. He did this by using a forbidden Jutsu that summoned the shinigami. The shinigami then sealed the fox inside a newborn baby. Now who was this newborn baby you may ask and what the hell does this kid has to do with this meeting. Well that is simple. He has been you're younger children's friend the entire time and not know this. Naruto is the demon fox."

There was an eerie silence overhead after that short speech. She sat back down and waited for the end results. Suddenly Kiba roared out.

"We have been hanging with a demon the entire time. I say we kill the demon."

Suddenly more and more people joined in. Lee didn't say he exactly hated Naruto now but said he was saddened that he had to find out this awful turn of events. So in a sense he sorted say he hated Naruto as well. All the rest of the rookie nine joined in. Shikamaru sighed speaking of how troublesome this was. He didn't care if he was a demon or not. Shino just stayed quiet and expressed his hatred by nodding and said a few 'kill Naruto' here and there. Neji then contemplated back on the Chuunin exams on what Naruto said.

'_Now I can tell the pain you have been through. I am sorry these events occurred through your life eventually leading to this. You helped me through the darkness and even tried to help your friend through the darkness. You are truly the light._'

Neji then had a face of sadness on his face for once. It stood there for only a brief moment before it retorted back to its regular state. Hinata was struggling arguing with herself. In the end, she started with a whisper but stated for Naruto; no for the demon to be killed. She then grew louder enough for those closer to her to hear.

"There you go Hinata. That's the spirit," exclaimed a currently stupid Kiba. She didn't notice, but her father smirked at her rebellion. He felt it was the only real accomplishment she made out of her entire life.

Although Kakashi didn't say anything and kept his head buried in his book, he was listening quite intently. He smirked when the crowd rooted for the demon to be killed. There was no way for Naruto to escape now. The rest of the jounin teachers shook their head at their students' behavior. They were supposed to be this boy's friend and yet here they are rooting for him to be killed. At least Gai had one student who was compliant and understanding. Maybe it was two. He wasn't quite sure about Lee at the moment. Yet he definitely knew Neji wasn't rooting for the boy to die. What surprised Kurenai the most was the fact that Hinata was cheering. Of all people why her? She thought Hinata was fond of the little gaki. Of course Ino and Sakura were the loudest of the bunch. That right there was no surprise. Sasuke was a different case. Yes he had been there but he had to use crutches though for the time being. He was infuriated. Why was this dobe gifted with such immense power? He should have been the one with that power not the dobe. He didn't feel the need to degrade himself to shout for the dobe to die. 

Then again, why want the dobe to die? He could use a good person to test his skills another day. He smirked at what Naruto did. He didn't want him to be caught so he kept his mouth shut. The elders didn't notice but all the jounin teachers and sennin present and Iruka saw. Kakashi would have seen but he was too busy wrapped up in his thoughts. They all said nothing.

Naruto was appalled as well as Jiraiya and Tsunade. How could they be like this over their friend?

"Hey why would you act this way? Isn't Naruto supposed to be your friend?"

Jiraiya's words were drowned out by the noise of the crowd.

"Save your breathe Jiraiya. You won't be heard through the noise of this crowd," voiced Danzo. He was smiling all the while. He wasn't able to get the boy under his command but at least he could get rid of the demon forever. He settled down the crowd as Jiraiya stood standing. Tsunade knew she lost and could do nothing for the boy. She tried to not shed her tears. Not now anyway. She turned her attention to Naruto who only had a look of sadness.

"Alright genin of Konohagakure no Sato, Uzumaki Naruto.; you will be faced with death by none other than your sensei. Hatake Kakashi, please step forward."

Kakashi then appeared in front of Danzo still holding his book, looking at Naruto with a glare which didn't scare Naruto in the least. Kakashi then smiled as he put away his book.

"Well Naruto, it was a matter of time before your actions caught up with you. You should have expected this Kyuubi."

"Now Kakashi, please use whatever tool you wish to make Naruto-"

Danzo was then cut off by Naruto which shocked every single person in the conference.

"A missing-nin," he replied darkly. He took out a kunai which only made Kakashi chuckle a bit.

"Please what do you expect to do with that," he retorted happily. What Kakashi didn't expect shocked him. Naruto had made a quick slash against his forehead.

The escape had begun. He then a dash for the exit when suddenly, two Chuunin blocked his path. He easily maneuvered out his way to get through. He had to take a different approach. He then decided to break out the window. Suddenly right when he thought he was home free a Chuunin appeared in front of him and punched at him. He blocked the punch by using the arm to thrust himself forward and punch the ninja which he got a punch in response from another ninja. He crashed on the floor but quickly got back up as he was surrounded. He fought off the best he could which was surprisingly well.

"Jiraiya stop this madness and apprehend Naruto," cried Koharu.

"Sorry, my incompetence is not needed right now."

Koharu just snorted at Jiraiya's comment. She turned back to the battle. She couldn't ask at all for Tsunade to help. That was dead no, no sarcasm attach. Finally Naruto was wearing down as he tried to strike another blow but was too slow and got caught in the gut. He was then hoisted up by two ninja. One grabbing each arm. His legs dangled over the floor. He looked defeated. As he looked up his eyes looked around as mostly everyone was eager to see his death. Streams of tears rolled down his face as his hiat-ate dropped on the floor. It caught the rest of the tears that Naruto dropped. Tsunade couldn't move and she hated seeing Naruto like this. During the wait Kakashi had charged up his Chidori. It was finally ready as he thrust his Chidori filled hand towards Naruto most important vital organ; the heart. It hit and yet nobody got what they wanted. They didn't see blood but a puff of smoke when the attack hit him.

"Damn a Kage Bunshin. He never made a Kage Bunshin. How the hell did this appear then? Did anyone see Naruto perform a Kage Bunshin?"

The room was quiet and nobody said anything. The jounin that did saw it didn't want to say anything for getting in massive trouble. Neji felt the same way. Jiraiya then spoke up.

"Actually, when everyone was chanting about killing Naruto, you didn't see him nor did the majority of the room see him perform it. He obviously knew his demise was coming and took that open door and ran out of it."

"What why didn't you say anything Jiraiya. What the hell were you thinking letting him off like that," retorted a very angry Koharu.

"I was thinking there was no reason for him to die. You people just don't get it do you? He is not the demon he is just the host of it. Just a person who holds it inside of his body. He is nothing like the demon. If that was the case, then he would have killed us all already. Maybe in time you will regret your mistake. You just let go a ninja of great potential. And that potential did not lie in the power of the fox."

Jiraiya then started to walk out the meeting room. No one stopped him. The council members knew that questioning Naruto whereabouts would lead the council members to a dead end. A little while after the toad sennin left, Tsunade started to leave as well. No one stopped her either. That would lead to death whether you had heaven curse seal level two or not. She went straight past her office to her room. She locked the door which the only person with entrance at that moment was Shizune. Shizune went to her own abode as well. Once they felt it secure, they started to cry their eyes out. They had let it all out. Naruto was like a brother to Shizune while a grandson to Tsunade. If any person was there, then they would know that there was nothing to cheer them up that day. Not even the finest sake could cheer up Tsunade that day which she took it the worst. It was thanks to that gaki who showed that nothing is a waste. He showed her that he was a total idiot yet was still a loveable guy. It was him who made her take that damn job as Hokage. It was sunny. Yet that lasted for only thirty minutes as it soon rained. Not very hard but it rained. It was October 10th. To most, this was the best October 10th they could ever have. They didn't exactly get a chance to kill him but they did get him out the village which was just as good. To few this was the worst. This was his birthday present; to become a missing-nin. It would have been death but he used his brain for a change. The one thing that she couldn't understand was, how the hell did he get a clone to emit tears that were real. They didn't even dissipate from his hiat-ate. He switched his real hiat-ate with the clone version just for Tsunade to keep. She cried even harder just looking at that headband.

An orange jumpsuit was running though the forest as fast as he could. He did not turn back. He could not turn back. No one loved him there and it was worthless to make them try. He had a bag full of scrolls and some other things a person from afar would see as junk. Yet this stuff wasn't junk, it was his heritage. He cursed himself. On all the days to be sought to die why today. Well, for those villagers it would be good anyway. It was October 10th after all. The day Kyuubi was defeated. Now he truly was. May not be dead but he was defeated nonetheless. His present was to die, but he took that back to the store and exchanged it for the only possible thing; a missing-nin. He would definitely have to be careful now. What a birthday. Well, at least it was a nice day. After thirty minutes, it started to rain which made things worse. It didn't rain extra hard but it rained. This day he would easily remember the day he turned into a missing-nin. He started to cry as he continued to rain. What a birthday indeed

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Well here is the deal. I know I shouldn't do this, but I did it anyway despite the fact that I have more stuff to write out. I know I'm a horrible person. Don't worry, just because I made this doesn't mean I won't continue my other stuff (exluding the other Avatar story). I just had this idea in my head for quite a while now. So yeah. I hope you liked this first chapter so far, I actually had it been done but was just too lazy to post it. Well now it's posted and hope you enjoy. Well leaave your reviews. Oh and there will also be another story coming. If you like Yu-Gi-Oh!, then you'll enjoy the story I have ready for it. Oh and the help I am getting is from JGOG


	2. Effecting the Cause

A/N: Hey people what up. I know you have been waiting for this impatiently but here it is the next chapter. There is some things in this chapter that ought to clear up why I made this a NaruHina story. I have been getting a lot of complaints about that and I got to say, I understand. Like I said earlier, this chapter should clear things up. Now I know this chapter might have barely any Naruto stuff in it, but this is to get things in order so you can understand what the deal is here. I don't want Naruto to just leave and let the characters go to the way I want them to be in the next couple of chapters. It would make no sense. Well some things I changed about many of the characters but changed nonetheless. The Sennin are all 14 years younger. That will make her 37. If you don't believe me do the math. She was 51 in part 1. Look it up if you need to.The reasons for this is simple: I have plans for Tsunade and I don't want her to be so old that it would be creepy for her doing what she will be doing later on in the story. No, Naruto's not involved in her doing so don't think about it. I like to keep generations with generations. Also there is a contest that I would like for you to do. Details will be told later. JGOG123 take it away my friend.

JGOG132: Guten Tag, readers! Some of you may know me and some of you may be meeting me for the first time. I am JGOG132, the co-author in this story here. I have been asked by Ndasuunye to help out with his story to make it one of the best he's ever written.

Naruto: Awesome stuff it'll be I tell ya! DATTEBAYO!!

JGOG132: GOD DAMMIT! Naruto, why did you follow me in here? You're only my yes-man in my stories!

Naruto: Wherever you go, I go, boss.

JGOG132: Dammit!

Hinata: (sulking in the corner) People hate me because of how my character acted. sniffles

Naruto: Oh, I'm sure they didn't mean it.

Hinata: Yes they did; one of them actually refer to be as sniffles "Whorenata".

Naruto: WHAT?! I'LL KILL THEM!

JGOG132: Easy, Naruto. I don't want you to harm any of the writers that'll get me fired.

Naruto: BUT THEY MUST PAY!

JGOG132: Trust me; it'll be worth not to once you see what's in store for this chappie.

Naruto: Hmph fine.

**Disclaimer: **JGOG132: Ndasuunye doesn't own Naruto or any of their characters and neither do I. I may be on the payroll but I am no where close to owning. Enjoy this next chappie!

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**Effect From The Cause**

It has only been two days since that particular birthday and now Naruto was just put into the bingo book. Tsunade accepted that since he is a missing Nin and nothing about that could be done. But making him an A-ranked missing-nin, now that was going too far. He was just a genin after all. Yet the council thought it was fair since Naruto could use that Kyuubi power to his advantage. She tried to make 

them tone it down but once again she was overruled. Well she was at least able to make them bring him back to the village alive if caught. That was something she had gotten control over that. Of course, his description also stated that if necessary to kill him. This did not sit well with Tsunade but she did the best she could. She had given Shizune the week off to get her apprentice and friend to maul over the incident. Of course, that only took three days since Shizune thought to herself logical reasoning. If she let herself keep crying over the loss, then she would be a pathetic Kunoichi for the rest of her life. She would have to buck up and move on with life. Of course that didn't mean forgetting her dear Aniki.

Konohamaru soon became quiet and distant from his friends. Although he was like this, he suddenly became more serious and determined in his training and studies. He would barely talk and gave off cold aura around him as well as give the rookie nine extreme cold glares whenever he passed them by. Sooner or later he would start to be a hateful person. He had lost yet another person close to him and this was getting to him. Although Iruka like the dramatic change in attitude in his pupil's studies and training, he thought his personality would soon become too dark and that wasn't good for any ninja. He would have to soon give a good talking to his student. Besides, his scowling with everything he did was beginning to get very annoying. But he would speak with him at the end of the week. He still wanted Konohamaru to improve some more. Iruka kept his usual demeanor in public view, but he was still torn up about the incident nonetheless. Still he didn't let that interfere with his life though. He continued to look on the bright side. Naruto was still alive and won't be that easy to defeat.

The jounin teachers, excluding Kakashi was giving their pupils some harsh training. There was no way they were going to let their students get off the hook for defecting a fellow ninja like that. Once, one student of each of the team would ask why such the harsh training and the excuse was to get them ready for the next Chuunin exams. They didn't believe that and they murmured it was about the demon gaki. The sensei pretended not to hear it. Yet, it was but for only for so long they could take that. Neji trained intense nonetheless. He didn't want to lose to anyone again. He still thought about the incident every once in a while but didn't let it interfere with his daily activities. Still he once in a while gave his fellow Kunoichi the classic cold shoulder. Gai was still not his goofy self for quite a while. He was all serious. Tenten just went on with her daily life. Kakashi's team was apart for a while. Kakashi couldn't teach Sakura much of anything and Sasuke was still in the interrogation office. As he was there, which was a little under a month, he thought about his past actions in his life. It started from the Uchiha massacre which made him really angry. Then as he thought about his friendship and rivalry with Naruto he started to simmer down. His hate for the boy lessened as he thought.

Sakura and Ino were just too happy. They couldn't wait for their precious Sasuke to be released. During the time, she had Kakashi teach her what he could which was very basic. She soon decided that there wasn't much he could teach and after continually thinking about the condition Sasuke was in, she made up her mind to become a medic nin. She didn't want anything like that ever happening to her precious Sasuke ever again.

"Hokage-same, may I please speak with you for a moment."

The Hokage looked up from her stack of paperwork. The moment she heard that voice, she had a sudden scowl on her face. That scared Sakura quite a bit. Yet she bucked up for she needed to do this no matter what.

"How may I help you today Haruno-san?" Tsunade asked seriously.

Shizune, who was beside Tsunade saw the killer glare Tsunade was giving Sakura as well as the cold voice she trailed. She only hoped that she didn't have to hold back Tsunade which would not be a pretty site.

"I-I would like you to take me as an apprentice to become a medic Nin."

"And why should I accept you as an apprentice when I already have one as it is?" Tsunade's eyes narrowed as she waited for the response.

"W-Well, it's just that after seeing Sasuke's condition, I realized that we should have more medics on the team and I want to make sure that no one on my team or anyone precious to me is not giving proper care while on duty or at all." She then bowed as she seemed like she was ready to beg. "Please, accept me as your apprentice."

Tsunade stood as she looked at her with the same cold glare. Yet, although she didn't want her as an apprentice, since the damage she took in getting her surrogate grandson almost executed, this girl seemed true at what she said, even if it was only for that damn fuck called Sasuke.

"Fine, I will accept you as an apprentice." Sakura looked up with brimming eyes but that look was not returned. "Yet on the conditions you will follow my orders and accept the fact that you will be in for difficult training."

Sakura knew this was about Naruto which made her blood boil. Yet she kept her temper at bay. Tsunade saw Sakura tightening her fists.

"Hai," Sakura replied with a fake smile. Although she knew that Tsunade was going to make her life hell, this was the only way to make sure her precious Sasuke would be treated with the best of care by her.

When Sakura left the Hokage complex completely, Tsunade then let her anger towards her come out in two words.

"Sasuke slut." She then sat back down to do her work. Without sake.

When all jounin saw the new bingo book, they gasped at the result. They knew Naruto would be in it but as an A-ranked missing Nin. That was a little over the top. The only Chuunin with them at the time was Iruka.

"Well, it seems that the demon will soon meet its demise with the ryo he's serving."

"Kakashi please, what has happened to you over the years. You never thought that the boy was the demon after the Yondaime's death," explained Kurenai.

"Yeah you know better that he isn't the demon and is just a host. Weren't you the one that said he was going to grow into a strong ninja?" asked Asuma.

Kakashi didn't say anything. He suddenly became confused. He did say that indeed yet now he hates Naruto? He didn't know what to think any more. He even protected the boy in his younger days when he chased by a mob. Now he has a very deep hatred. He needed some time alone. Maybe a mission would help him get things straight. He left the group without saying another word.

"Jiraiya you can come in now, stop standing by the window."

Jiraiya then hopped in the Hokage's office as he complained.

"Oh, you still are a sharp one aren't you?"

"Jiraiya please I don't have time for this so what do you want?" Tsunade said depressingly not looking away from her paperwork.

He stood quiet for a minute. She didn't raise her voice which wasn't good.

"Well, out of all the people who had your necklace, which had it the longest?"

"Jiraiya please not now."

"Answer the question?"

"Fine it was Naruto are you happy now?" She started to tear up at just the thought of the boy.

"Now who still has that same necklace?"

"Naruto." Now a tear fell on her paper. After a minute of sniffling, she then realized something. Naruto still has her necklace. Jiraiya then put on a faint smile as she saw the hope come into the female Hokage's eyes. He was still alive, and unless she got her necklace back, he wasn't dying anytime soon. She went back to distraught once again. He wasn't to be coming back ever. Her thoughts were then interrupted by Jiraiya.

"Well, my sources have a lead and now I will be off for three years to be his sensei."

Tsunade understood what he was talking about stood to give him something.

"Jiraiya let me give you some scrolls before you go."

She then went to area of the tower which held a precious set of scrolls. As she opened the drawer, her face fell in shock. They were gone and if the council found out, there would be hell to pay. There was a note on the drawer. She recognized that handwriting anywhere. It was from Danzo which read:

'I have checked the drawer and it seems that the precious scrolls as well as other various scrolls were stolen. This was most definitely the demon's doing. So we have raised his ryo to 1,000,000 now. Please see me later when you have time. If you take too long to see me then I will come and look for you. Well Ja Ne.'

He knew, the boy knew about his heritage. Was this good or bad? She would think about that later. It also seemed with closer inspection that the village's scroll of forbidden Jutsu were attempted to be stolen. There was no note there either. Then again there didn't need to be. It was obvious Naruto didn't want to carry around something like that. Probably since he wanted to learn on his own and that 

would make him an SS-rank. This sure was a strange day. When she turned around to face Jiraiya, he was gone and there was only a log in his place with a note on it:

'I'm going to take my leave now. There is no longer any need for me to be there. Oh don't expect me to keep in touch. You understand. Well, Ja Ne.'

Somewhere in a hot sundried desert, Naruto was sneezing up a storm. What was the deal here, how could he have a cold when it's this hot. Must be too hot and gave him a runny nose or something. That or someone was talking about him pretty heavily. Back in Konoha, Hinata was more confused than ever. Sure she was saved from falling in love with a demon, but is that what Naruto really was. They did say it was sealed inside and not him being an offspring altogether. No, she needed to stop thinking such sentimental things. He was a demon freak and _it _deserved to be killed. He just got lucky is all. No, _it_ just got lucky is all. Still, she still couldn't stop herself from thinking of Naruto of a boy rather than a demon. Two sides in her mind debated the situation:

_Soft Hinata: Naruto-kun…what happened to you?_

_Tough Hinata: Snap out of it, Hinata! That wasn't Naruto! There was never such person as Naruto, just a demon in human form!_

_Soft Hinata: I don't know. The Naruto I knew never seemed like a demon; even though he wasn't the most perfect human being, he never seemed demonish._

_Tough Hinata: That's how demons work. They lure you into a trap with false kindness and deceit and wait for the perfect moment to strike. Luckily, thanks to Danzo-san and the rest, that was stopped before it began._

_Soft Hinata: No! It can't be true! Cheering for me during my preliminary match with Neji….that kind heart he showed he had…that can't be a demon's doing._

_Tough Hinata: Oh yeah?! If you think so, then why did you chant for it to be killed like the rest of the villagers?_

_Soft Hinata: ….I…don't know._

_Tough Hinata: Quit lying to yourself! That little fuck was nothing but a demon working its way up for the destruction of this village; your home._

_Soft Hinata: B-but-_

_Tough Hinata: BUT NOTHING! FATHER WAS RIGHT! YOU HAVE ALWAYS BEEN WEAK! Now you did the right thing to prove him wrong by wanting the demon killed._

_Soft Hinata: Did I really want Naruto killed? Why would I want that?_

_Tough Hinata: BECAUSE HE'S A DEMON, YOU BAKA!! You fell in love with a lie and now you're lying to yourself by doubting that you hate the demon._

_Soft Hinata: But...I do want the demon to be killed-_

_Tough Hinata: That's right!_

_Soft Hinata: But Naruto, the boy I loved for a long time? Him too?_

_Tough Hinata: Quit the doubts! You are only lying to yourself!_

_Soft Hinata: Why? Because you say so? How do I know I just wasn't chanting because I was so caught up in the moment? I didn't know what to do in this situation. Why do you say I chant because I hated Naruto-kun like everyone else?_

_Tough Hinata: So are you actually saying you still love him? Are you willing to throw away your true feelings and father's respect for a demon?!_

_Soft Hinata: NO!... I mean yes…no I mean….I don't know._

_Tough Hinata: Hmph pathetic!_

This train of thought was slowing her down in her training and Neji saw it. His uncle saw it, but didn't know what to make of it. He snapped her back into focus with a vigorous gentle fist. What an ironic way of handling it. As for Teuchi and Ayame back at Ichiraku, they kept the ramen stand open but Ayame didn't feel like working nor did Teuchi of cooking. They hired new employees to fill in for them as they were too depressed at the gaki's departure. Their favorite customer had left and might not come back. When Gaara finally got the new bingo book, he was appalled with this new development. They dare make Naruto an outcast. There was definitely hell to pay.

"Temari, order a embargo upon Konohagakure no Sato to make sure they don't do deals with us or use our territory for cross trades with others. Make sure this lasts up to 6 months."

"Ok but what happened that made you suddenly take this drastic action."

He threw the bingo book and told her to skim through the pages. Her face then turned to shock to see Naruto's face in the bingo book at all let alone have that much ryo upon his head. She threw the book back which was caught by the sand and disappeared in a whirlwind of sand. Of course, she didn't exactly listen to her brother and extended the embargo for 10 months. He would quite upset with her but his length was too short and needed to be lengthened. Ten days later, the Hokage received a notice for an embargo placed upon them by the Kazekage. She knew this was no doubt was about Naruto. Of course, there was nothing she could do about that. They now lost their back up service for close up to a year. Well at least things were calming down in Konoha. Tsunade decided to think on it later and get back to her work.

Shikamaru and Choji meanwhile were at the BBQ restauarant, though the surprise was that Choji wasn't having anything except water along with Shikamaru. Clearly, they both felt a bit numb after the incident with Naruto. After he left, Shikamaru thought it'd be too troublesome to think about and just get on with his life; that didn't work. Choji could hardly eat anything except small portions of meals. They both tried to not let it get to them but that was the only thing they could think about it.

"I miss Naruto," Choji said while sipping his water.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I miss Naruto too," Shikamaru responded. That was basically the only thing they said all day.

Meanwhile, Sasuke was at the training grounds, pounding onto the wooden posts to get back in shape so soon after his recovery. With every punch and kick he thought about the annoying blonde knucklehead. _I swear I'm bringing you back to the village…even if I have to break every bone in your body and drag you back!_Sasuke kept rethinking. _Come on, Sasuke! Let's go home! Let's……go home._ Sasuke smashed his fist into the post so hard that his knuckles started to bleed. "Dammit!" he shouted, not at the thought that he bleed his knuckles but at the very memory of Naruto coming back to haunt him. _**In order to get the Mangekyo Sharingan, you have to kill your best friend.**_The very words the Itachi said to him after the Uchiha massacre kept repeating in his head. _You don't have enough anger. __**And you know something: you never will.**_Sasuke held his head in frustration, not caring about his injured hand, as more of Naruto's and Itachi's words came back to him. _Everyone__... __everyone__... __has risked their lives to come after you!_He tried so hard to shut them out but they just kept on repeating and repeating in his head. _**You're not even worth killing, foolish little brother. **__I promised Sakura I'd bring you back to the village and I never go back on my word, because that's my nindo; my ninja way!_

"SHUT UP!!" Sasuke shouted to the voices as he fell to his knees grasping his head. All his life after his clan was murdered, he wanted the death of its murderer. What was he supposed to do is what he thought to himself. Sasuke devoted his life to try and become strong enough to bring Itachi down and hold his heart in his hands and crush it. He would've risked everything in order to see that happen. Even kill his one true friend -his best friend- Naruto. After all that running when he said that he'd join Orochimaru to get powerful enough to have Itachi die, after saying that he'd leave the entire village behind, all his friends, everthing…Naruto was still willing to risk bring him back. And because of that, Naruto ended up being hated by the entire village and outcasted. A feeling, one that Sasuke hadn't felt in a long time rose inside him: guilt. Sasuke realized that it was his fault that Naruto was outcasted. If only that he'd stay with the village then none of it would've happened. _No way!_ he thought to himself. _If only the dobe had just let me go and join with Orochimaru then he would've still had his friends. He wouldn't have been outcasted. It can't be my fault….it can't. _Sasuke doubted these thoughts a bit. Wasn't killing Naruto to obtain the Sharingan or joining Orochimaru exactly what Itachi expected him to do? He thought that it was what he wanted, that it was the only thing he could do in order to get enough for his revenge. He sat down in front of the bloodied wooden post as he thought. Even more importantly, would his own parents want him to suffer like this, to have this mad quest for vengeance instead to enjoy a happy life with his friends? Sasuke didn't know what to think anymore. He stood back up and continued his training trying to rest the thoughts in his head for a time.

Kiba and Shino continued their training with Kurenai. Both of them seemed glad that the demon was gone. Kiba did, for personal reasons and as for Shino, people would assume he had the same opinion as everyone else, but he never said the reason so no one asked. The training was getting more exhausting, even for Shino.

"Come on! Keep going!" Kurenai ordered as she saw Kiba trying to sit down.

"Can't we stop? My limbs are going numb and I need a breather," Kiba said; Shino agreed as well even though he didn't show it.

"Not until I say so!" Kurenai responded.

"With all due respect, Kurenai-sensei, give it a rest. We know why you're working us over," Shino said in his monotone voice.

"Does that give you an excuse to stop?" Kurenai asked rhetorically. "Besides, it's only fair you feel the agony that your former friend feels now.

"You don't understand. You have no idea what agony is or what that demon took from me!" Kiba snapped.

"Who are you referring to? Naruto or the Kyuubi?" Kurenai asked with a glare. Kiba was a bit indimitated but still stood his ground.

"I'm not changing my mind about this, even if your Nazi training kills me. The demon killed my father! I never got a chance to know him and the demon took him from me! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT THAT'S LIKE?!" Kiba shouted angrily.

"Kiba, I'm sorry that you never got a chance to know your father, but he died to help protect this village. I'm sorry he lost his life in the attack. But how can you blame Naruto for what the Kyuubi did? He was just a baby."

"It doesn't matter. I should've known how Naruto was able to beat me during the Chuunin Exams. I bet he enjoyed exploiting the demon's chakra to get ahead of everyone else!" Kiba growled at the memory.

"For your information, Naruto beat you all by himself, Kiba. In fact he wasn't even able to unleash the chakra due to the seal Orochimaru put on him," Kurenai explained bluntly.

"Humph…I don't believe you," Kiba muttered as he sat down by a nearby tree with Akamaru, who was sleeping. Kurenai turned to Shino. "And what of you, Shino, what is your reason for hating Naruto?" she asked.

Shino sat next to Kiba. "I have nothing to say about it." Kurenai sighed in defeat as she knew that arguing with them further would not change their minds. "Fine, training is over today. Go on," she said as she left them hoping that sooner or later they will see how wrong they were about Naruto.

As night grew closer, Naruto huddled into a nearby cave to rest. He didn't have anything with him except his orange jumpsuit and ninja tools. There was no blanket, no food, nothing. He lay on the sandy dune cave thinking about the place he once thought was his home. All his friends, or at least were who he thought were his friends had betrayed him. He took a liking to them after getting to know them after the Chuunin exams. It was a great feeling to have so many people care for him like that. Now, the thought that they all turned their backs on him made him feel empty. Of course, technically not every one of them turned their back on them, but it didn't help because it was as if it felt that they all did. He blocked away those thoughts as he knew they would bring him more pain.

It was Ino's turn to close down her family's shop. Her mother had already left and the customers had already bought their bouquets and flowers and had gone. She was happy that Sasuke was back and that the demon had gone. She then thought for a minute as she locked up the doors. _Come to think of it, it was pretty cool on how Naruto beat Neji. Isn't it common knowledge that demons would finish off their opponent? Naruto didn't…so doesn't that mean he could __**not **__be a demon? _"Nah!" Ino waved away the thought. "Sasuke is back and the demon is out of the village and will eventually be killed. It's as it's supposed to be…….I think," she said to herself.

In another part of the village, Lee was running laps around the village; by himself, considering Gai said he didn't feel like it. That shocked Lee to the core but reluctantly decided to continue on with the laps. Strangely though, the laps seemed hard to concentrate on as his mind was preoccupied with something else. _I don't understand how someone like Naruto can be a demon. His youthfulness, his ambition…that can't be a demon's work. Shouldn't he be treated as a hero because he's the reason that the Kyuubi hasn't destroyed the village? _To Lee, it didn't make any sense. Unfortunately he was so preoccupied by his thoughts that he didn't notice that he was about to run off a nearby cliff. He came to realization just as he fell. "SHIT!!" he yelled as he tried to grab on one of the cliff walls pointed rocks. He sighed in relief as he hung on. Suprisingly, the rock broke off and he continued to fall. "YIKES!!" Luckily, something caught his leg and pulled him up. He looked at the hand's owner and could almost see the blonde hair reflecting off the shining moonlight. "Naruto?" he whispered as he rubbed his eyes to make sure they weren't betraying him; they were as he clearly saw Gai.

"Lee, how many times have I told you not to get distracted while running laps?" Gai stated to his pupil.

"Sorry, Gai-sensei….I guess something was occupying my thoughts," Lee responded.

"It's Naruto, isn't it?" Gai asked. Lee nodded as he sat on the cliff's edge. Gai smiled a little as he saw that his student wasn't so ignorant as the other Rookie Nine. "You're not alone, Lee. I miss him too." Gai sat next to his favorite student.

"Gai-sensei, if I may ask, how could so many people care for one person and then quickly turn on him just because of one secret?"

Gai sighed. "You know, I kept asking myself that since the day Naruto left. I wish I could tell you the answer to your question, but sadly…I can't." Lee nodded as he and Gai looked out to the village that was simmering the noise as if falling asleep. _Be safe, Naruto _they both thought.

"_AFTER IT!! DON'T LET IT GET AWAY!" a ninja ordered his other 9 other comrades of his squad as they were chasing after Naruto, who was running for his life trying to get away. He had bruises all over his body accompanied by cuts and stabs from kunai. He kept jumping from tree to tree in the forest with the pursuing ninjas not far behind._

"_Leave me alone!" Naruto shouted at them, but they ignored it._

"_Your time has come, Kyuubi!" the lead ninja exclaimed. Naruto kept going and going, doing his best to dodge the incoming shuriken and kunai, only to be hit by more than half of them. Unfortunately _

_he was struck in the leg in a mid-jump between trees and fell to the ground, fracturing his rib cage and breaking his right leg._

"_Now we got it!" the lead ninja said with a triumphant smirk. "FINISH HIM OFF!" he ordered._

_Naruto tried to get up but was too injured to move. Even if he'd move an inch it would hurt. Still though, he tried to crawl away by his arms as the ten ninja prepared their assault. He was crawling the best he could but he was getting nowhere near as fast as a snail. Thousands of kunais and shuriken came raining down upon him. There was no escape; he was hit all over the back of his body and legs. The squad gathered around his body which was bleeding out from the wounds. The leader walked cautiously and slowly over to the body, kunai in hand, to make sure Naruto was dead. He kneeled over Naruto and moved closer. He placed his free hand on Naruto's neck to check for a sign of pulse. _

_However, just as his fingers touched the skin, one of Naruto's hands, which resembled a beastly claw, clutched onto the lead ninja's hand and crushed it with inhuman strength causing the bones to shatter and the ninja to scream in agony. The claw threw the ninja into a tree, breaking it in half and collapsing on the ninja._

_The remaining ninja looked in shock as Naruto's body was lifted like a doll, his head facing the ground. His head picked up slowly revealing blood red eyes and the whisker marks were mork darker and fangs were seeping from his mouth. Red chakra was glowing all around him like fire. He had the glare of a murderous intent in his eyes._

"_IT'S STILL ALIVE! KILL IT!!" one of the squad ninja shouted. The ninja drew their swords and charged at Naruto while he in turn launched himself at him with a loud beastly roar. He tore his way through the squad like paper, blood splattering all around the forest area._

_Within minutes the dismember bodies of the squad were lying on the ground with Naruto standing over them, bathed in blood, pulling the kunai and shuriken from his body. He let out a loud giant roar to the night sky in triumph of his kill._

"_No…Naruto-kun…Naruto-kun no…Naruto-kun…." __a timid shy voice was heard. He was too deep in his accomplishment of his win to notice a sword about to impale him in the heart from behind. He was soon struck and coughed up blood._

"NARUTO-KUN!" Hinata screamed as she shot up from her sleep in her bed. She had a look of fear and worry on her face. Hinata glanced at her clock on her nightstand and noticed it was 1 am. She sat up and pulled her knees toward her chest as tears were leaking down her cheeks. Her bedroom door opened revealing her cousin, Neji.

"Hinata-sama, is everything alright?" Neji asked in a worried tone. Hinata shook her head. "No, everything is not alright! Naruto-kun is gone and I did nothing to stop him!" Hinata cried.

Neji walked over to Hinata's bed and sat next to her. "Tell me what happened," Neji said to her as he tried to think of a way to calm her down.

"I had vicious nightmare." She told Neji of the nightmare as he listened intently. After telling him, Neji put his arm around Hinata in attempt to comfort her. "It's alright, Hinata-sama. It was just a dream."

Hinata wiped her nose with the sleeve of her night gown. "I know…but it seemed so real. Naruto-kun would never be like that. Oh Kami, what have I done?!" she sobbed to herself.

"Hi-" Neji was interrupted.

"Don't say I didn't do anything because I know I did. I could've stopped him. I…shouldn't have joined in and want him to be killed," Hinata said with another sob.

"You heard the people trying to defend him. There was nothing they could do to help him. You wouldn't have done any better," Neji said, though regretted his choice of words as Hinata broke down again.

"I was just so confused and wanted my father's approval. I was so…selfish. I was shocked to hear that Naruto-kun was the host." Hinata exclaimed. Neji patted her on the shoulder. "It's ok Hinata. We all make the wrong choices sometime in life."

"Still I should've defended him, even if it wouldn't make a difference I would at least prove to Naruto-kun that I still believed in him; that I didn't care if he was Kyuubi container or not; that I…still loved him," Hinata said.

Neji couldn't figure out what to say. He wasn't an expert on cheering up people. He pulled Hinata into a hug as she continued to cry and sob. _Naruto…… if only you could feel the emotions flowing though the village. _Neji thought as he held onto his cousin to calm her. Somewhere on a desert plain, some boy was busy scurrying in the sand to look for something to eat. He knew that the night is where the animals come out in the desert. He wasn't that stupid. He did pay some attention in the academy. As he greedily lunged at an animal, he wasn't fast enough as his prey got away. Luckily for him, someone caught site of his scurrying for they were on guard duty for the night. He cursed how he had to watch it during night shift. Anything could happen and very little people could back him up if he got into a quarrel. He then noticed the scurrying large object and he made sure by taking with him another ninja. As they got closer, they could see that it was a human boy.

"Stop right there boy. What the hell do you think you're doing in the desert like this?"

He and his partner stood in front and behind him. When the boy looked up, he shocked the guards. His face was a void of expressions and he looked as though he was deprived of much food for days.

"I was just looking for food as I know desert animals like to come out during the moon's rising. As for why I'm here, I was just passing by to get to another unknown location. That is all."

Although the guard could feel he was telling the truth, he and his partner decided to take him to the Kazekage anyway so they could get info on what to do with him. They led the jinchuuriki into the village to the Kazekage tower roof where the Kazekage was currently located.

"Why did you come here instead of being on patrol? You two better have a good excuse or else."

"Kazekage-sama, it appears we saw this young man just hanging near the village borders. He says he was just passing by and scavenging for food. What should we do with him sir?"

"Bring him up here, I want to see who this person is first."

The partner then went down to get the boy. Said guard soon returned with the boy and announced he was here. Gaara turned his head and his eyes widen a bit from shock. He expected to find Naruto sooner or later but that wasn't what shocked him. it was the way he looked and the void expression he was giving. He looked completely deprived of food. Also, it seemed he had very little sleep. Probably from staying up some nights to watch his back sometimes.

"You, go find this boy a place to sleep in immediately. You continue to patrol the village gate. I will get a partner for you."

Both guards understood and left immediately only leaving Naruto and Gaara alone.

"So it appears that you have become a missing nin."

"Yeah that's the gist of it."

"Well allow me to inform you that you have well over 130,000 ryo over your head."

"I see."

They were both quiet for a minute once again. Then the first guard came back announcing that he had found a place for him who would allow accommodations for the boy.

"We will continue this discussion in the morning Naruto. Well goodnight."

The guard and Naruto then walked away as Gaara continued to sit on the rooftop.

'_Naruto, what will become of you._'

* * *

JGOG132: Woo! That ends that chappie! As you can tell that was no easy feat.

Naruto: Keep in mind that Ndasuunye wrote this chapter with the assistance of JGOG132 WITHOUT PAY! So if you feel like petitioning for JGOG132 to go one strike, feel free to do so.

JGOG132: NARUTO, SHUTUP!!

Naruto: Are you saying you don't want to get paid, boss?

JGOG132: IT'S A FREE SITE, YOU MORON! WE DON'T GET PAID!

Naruto: Denial.

JGOG132: SHUTUP!

Naruto: Deeeeeeeniiiiiiallll!!

JGOG132: I SAID SHUT UP!!

Naruto:……..denial!

JGOG132: THAT'S IT! (pulls out a shotgun and points it at Naruto, however Naruto is already shot in the leg by a sniper rifle, wielded by Ndasuunye.)

Naruto: MY LEG!! I'M GONNA DIE!! I'M GONNA DIE!!

JGOG132: Oh you're not gonna die (mutters) unfortunately.

Ndasuunye: You don't know how long I wanted to do that.

JGOG132: Oh I think I have an idea.

Ndasuunye: Hoped you enjoyed this chapter folks. Yes I decided to let JGOG123 do this. It doesn't matter. But how come Naruto won't be my yesman. Well whatever. Now if you will excuse me, I need to see a certain blonde haired sand Kunoichi. Please review and let me know what you think. Now here is the deal see. I am having this contest to see who makes the best character. Ok so it's not really a contest but I am asking in advance for someone who would like to make their own adult character. Also, you can go for a kid who will be the age of Naruto or a little younger. THe choice is yours. The reason I need an adult though it because, well, you will find out in the next chapter.J a Ne


	3. A New Beginning

JGOG132: Good morning, afternoon, or evening; whatever time you are reading this story

JGOG132: Good morning, afternoon, or evening; whatever time you are reading this story. JGOG132 along with the author, Ndasuunye here with the latest chappie update.

Naruto: Don't forget the yes-man!

JGOG132: (sarcasm) Oh yeah, how could I ever forget the yes-man.

Neji: Correction: Yes-men, as I will be for Ndasuunye in this chapter. I assure the readers I won't be a hyperactive idiot like a certain blonde ninja.

Naruto: Who is that?

Ndasuunye: Take a guess.

(Naruto sits down to think real hard on the answer)

Ndasuunye: Oh for the love of things all high and mighty! It's y-(he is stopped as JGOG132 covers his mouth with his hand)

JGOG132: (whispers) shh let him keep thinking that way he'll be too preoccupied to annoy us.

Ndasuunye: (whispers) oh ok (normal volume) To start off this chappie we are going to bring in on the first ninja that is on Naruto's trail.

JGOG132: The best thing about it is that it's a ninja that I created myself. I don't mean to brag-

Neji: Yes, you do.

JGOG132: FUCK YOU! (coughs as he regains composure) As I said: I don't mean to brag but I think my character will impress some of the readers.

Naruto: HOT DOG! Who is this character? A friend I meet along the way?

JGOG132: No, it's one that is intent on hunting you down like an animal.

Naruto: WHAT?! (puppy eyes) But why would you create a character to kill me? I'm your beloved yes-man.

JGOG132: Hey, you just answered your own question! Good for you!

(Naruto sulks in the corner)

Ndasuunye: Don't worry, you will have friends later on in life.

**Disclaimer: **Ndasuunye: I don't own Naruto or any of their characters-

**Add disclaimer: **JGOG132: Neither do I!

Ndasuunye: Yeah, so please don't get surprised if, by the end of this chapter, the co-author dies.

JGOG132: WHAT?!

Ndasuunye: (laughs) Relax, I'm kidding. (mutters) somewhat.

**A New Beginning.**

Outside of Konoha village in the forest, about 50 miles from its gates, it was close to dawn when a man was examining the dirt road path that seemed to be dried up mud from the rain a few days ago. Looking at it, the owner of the footprints must've run through the path when it was raining while the road was muddy.

The man looking at the footprints was of a tall man, about the age of 24. He had long silver hair that went down to his shoulders, pale skin that it almost matched of an albino, piercing blue eyes; three claw marks on his right cheek that looked like have left from some beastly animal. He wore a midnight-blue long sleeved shirt with a black trench coat that had a large sword with a blade as wide as a meat cleaver strapped to it, black tight pants with a tool pouch on his right thigh, and on his feet was a pair of black sandals that seemed to have mini scratch marks on its straps. He noticed the size of the footprints and reached in his coat pocket. He pulled out an info card with a picture of Naruto and his full description and background. The man smirked as he noticed footprint's size matched those of Naruto's shoe size. _So, the demon boy was here, huh? Seeing as he left this footprint in the rain a few days ago, he must be long gone out of this forest, _the man thought. He followed the direction of the footprints that to a certain direction of the forest. He snorted with a smile. _So you think hiding out in the desert will keep you safe, demon boy? You must be as dumb as Danzo said you were._

_Flashback sequence: The night after Naruto left…_

_Midnight in Konoha; everyone was asleep in their houses and apartments except a few shinobi guards patrolling the streets and walls of the village. Everything seemed alright to them as they didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. But, unbeknownst to the guards, somewhere in the training grounds there was a dark plot being formed. Two men in black cloaks were discussing on none other than the recently departured gaki._

"_You've taking quite a risk to have me meet here in this dump of a village of yours. I expect the pay better be sufficient, Danzo" said the cloaked figure with silver hair._

"_I appreciate the trouble you took to come here undetected. I assure you that the information I have for you will be of some value to you, Houfu" said the other cloaked figure, identified as Danzo._

"_Well, what do you have for me?" Houfu asked._

_Danzo pulled something from his cloak and gave Houfu an info card on Naruto. "One of the demons that you have been hunting for has recently escaped this village. It goes by the name is Naruto Uzumaki," Danzo responded._

"_I've heard that this boy had saved the Land of the Waves from the crime boss Gato, but how come no information of him is in the bingo book?" Houfu queried with a cocked eyebrow of suspicion._

_Danzo smirked, "Don't worry, by tomorrow everyone will know its name and will be more than willing to see to its elimination plus a more than satisfying bounty. I just wanted to let the best of hunters know about it beforehand. You know, as for a "head start."_

"_Save your flattery for someone who cares and let me know how much the bounty will be," Houfu with his arms crossed as he was getting impatient._

"_I plan to discuss with the council of elders about it to set to a measly 1,000,000 ryo, but for someone of your…"unique talents" I will give you that plus half," Danzo answered._

_Houfu laughed as he thought this offer was a joke. "Give me a break; I could hunt down a group of rouge ninja for that little. I want 3 mill for the Kyuubi," Houfu said with a glare._

"_You think this is a negotiation? Either you accept the offer or I warn the guards of your presence in this village! I'm sure your village Kage will be happy to have you back once you are captured and sent back there, considering your past," Danzo said with a smirk. It changed into a frown as soon as Houfu pulled out his sword and held it to Danzo's throat._

"_You can't warn the guards if you're dead. And even if you managed to scream out for the guards I'd be long gone by the time they find your bloodied corpse all over this area," Houfu whispered in a threatening tone. Danzo chuckled, confusing Houfu. "You are more risky than the bingo book said you were. Just for that, I'll let you have about 750,000 ryo now"-Houfu was about to protest when Danzo held up his hand in silence-"And I'll give you 2 million if you bring back the demon's head," Danzo stating._

_Houfu smirked. "You've got a deal. I'll hang the boy's head on the Hokage Monument expecting the rest of my payment to be there waiting for me." Danzo nodded. "How clever is the boy, dare I ask?" Danze chuckled. "Trust me, it's an idiot. I'm sure you'll have no trouble overseeing its disposal." Houfu placed his sword back in its holster strap. Danzo handed him a check of 750,000 ryo. Houfu took the check and placed it in his pocket. "Oh, and one more thing," Danzo said, interrupting Houfu from leaving. "Make his end extremely painful," Danzo stated with an evil smile. Houfu nodded with a smile of his own. He jumped up into the trees, disappearing in the forest._

_End Flashback Sequence_

Houfu jumped into the trees of the forests towards the direction of the desert as he smirked at the many ideas he thought of in his head on how to make Naruto suffer before ending his life.

_Where are you, little demon boy?_

An hour later, back in the Sand Village, Naruto woke up from the guest bedroom of the Kazekage's house that Gaara was generous enough to let him use. Apparently, it had been a while since he had "drained the snake" as some would put it; so he got off his bed and went into the bathroom. After that he washed his hands and face. As he was scrubbing his cheeks with soap a dark voice in the back his head was heard.

_**Well well, kit, it looks like all of your so-called friends have abandoned you.**_

The voice didn't startle in the least bit, though to say that he was angry to hear it was an understatement. _What the hell do you want?! Come to mock me because now I'm suffering as much as you want me to?_

_**Hehehe now now, kit, don't be like that. You and I both know that those weaklings you had back at that trash heap of a village was holding you back.**_

_HEY, YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO CALL THEM THAT!!_

_**What do you care? They turned their backs on you and now you have nothing. It'll only be a matter of time before the Shukaku host gives you up to them.**_

_Leave me alone. You don't know that._

_**I'm the only friend you have, kit. Why not use my power to get back at those who betrayed you?**_

_I'm not a demon like you, so don't you dare try to compare to me or try to manipulate me._

_**Hehehe, my my, who is being naïve here? After all, to them it is **_**you **_**who seems to be the demon. And yet you continue to defend them. Most curious.**_

_Just shut up already, I wouldn't have had to leave that village because of you!_

_**HA! Don't be pissed at me as if I put myself inside you. If there is anyone to blame it is that jerk Yondaime.**_

_It doesn't matter. I have nothing left and it's all because I have you. I wish it would never have happened._

_**Cry me a river, bitch. Then you can dunk those former brethren of yours in it.**_

_Go to hell!_

_**Hehehe Being kooked up in here is pretty much the same. Besides been there done that.**_

_Hmph…whatever. _

True, Naruto was angry at the fox for showing up and taunting him in his mind. As much as he wanted to forget about his 'home' and 'friends', the very sound of the kyuubi insulting them made him even more angry. Sure, he felt betrayed. The question that came to him was: why does he still stand up for them after being betrayed?

_**It's because you're too soft.**_ Naruto smacked himself mentally as he realized that the demon could read his every thought.

_**It seems to me that you need to let those feelings out that you have kept in you for so long right now.**_

_And listen to you mock me? Forget it!_

_**Better to do it now than to wait until later to cry on Shukaku boy's shoulder about it. Besides, I'm bored so spit it out!**_

_YOU PIECE OF-! _He sighed as he realized the Kyuubi was right. As much as he didn't want to, he had to let out the hidden feelings about what had happened to him out, otherwise he would just keep thinking about them, thus making him feel worse.

_I just…I can't believe everyone…and I mean eve-_

_**Wait, imagine yourself on a couch in a therapist's office, with me as the therapist, holding a notepad and pen. Ok, go on. Hehehehe**_

Naruto scoffed at the fox's stupid humor. He continued: _I thought..I really thought they cared about me._

_**Well that's the thing about life. You can't trust-**_

_DO YOU MIND?!  
_

_**Fine, go on.**_

_I knew that Sakura thought I was annoying and cared about Sasuke more than about me. But, after her beating the crap out of me…I was heartbroken. As for Sasuke, I knew he would resent me, but why didn't he at least have to courtesy to cheer or protest my execution. It's just common courtesy, don't you think?_

_**I think there was a good reason. In a way, I mean I would be disappointed if the people of your village didn't try to fight me off, even though it was completely pointl-**_

_RHETORICAL!! Anyway, as for the other guys, like Kiba, Shino, Ino, Tenten, and even Kakashi-sensei was for me. I thought he really cared about me._

_**Don't forget the lavender-eyed siren.**_

_Don't talk about her like that! Her name is Hinata!_

_**Well well, looks like I touched a nerve there.**_

_Shut up! Speaking of Hinata, I couldn't believe her, of all the nice people I ever me, I didn't expect her to hate me as well. Even though she's quiet and kind of weird, out of all my friends, she was the only one who never teased me or doubted me. Well so much for that dream._

_**Obviously you don't believe she would do that, also considering her feelings for you?**_

_Feelings for me? What do you mean?_

_**What? You mean you don't know? Hehehehe after all this time every time you saw the way she acts toward you, how she talks to you. Hehehehe you ARE that dumb.**_

_What are you talking ab- _His thoughts were interrupted as he heard a knock on his door. He walked over and opened the door revealing Kankuro.

"Gaara says after you get cleaned up to come downstairs and eat," Kankuro said. Naruto nodded and closed the door as Kankuro left.

_**Now's the time you should leave, Kit. No doubt the Shukaku host has plans to turn you over to the authorities.**_

_And do what? Run out of the village with more guards chasing after me, even though I don't have a destination to go to? Forget it. Besides, I don't believe Gaara would do that otherwise I'd be dead already._

_**You're playing a dangerous game, kit. You should better leave now than to wait to see what will happen.**_

_I'll take my chances._

With that, he ignored the Kyuubi's further protests as he undressed himself and turned on the shower. As he stepped in and began to wash himself, he couldn't help but wonder what was going on back in Konoha.

Morning in the Hyuuga compound and Hiashi was at the table in the kitchen along with Hanabi eating breakfast. Neji had already finished ten minutes earlier and left claiming that he was going to head for the training grounds for practice. Noticing that Hinata wasn't at the table, Hiashi sent Hanabi to go wake her up, assuming that she might still be in bed.

Hanabi walked down the hallways of the Hyuuga Compound until she approached the door of her sister's room. She knocked on the door.

"Hinata, you awake? Father says to come down to the kitchen and eat." There was no response, so Hanabi knocked again. "Hinata?" She opened the door and saw that Hinata was nowhere to be seen. However, she did find a note on her bed. She picked it up and it read a short message in Hinata's handwriting:

_Hanabi,_

_I decided to go for a walk to clear my head. Tell father that I went out to eat. I'll be back later._

_-Hinata_

Hanabi shook her head in disappointment. _No doubt it's about that Naruto guy. _She thought as she left the room to head back to the kitchen.

Sakura was making her way to the Hokage's office to get an early start on her training while walking through the forest. She stopped as her eyes beamed at the sight of a certain raven haired boy passing along a different path.

Excited, Sakura decided that her training could wait and decided to talk to him.

"Hey Sasuke-kun," he acknowledged her presence with a grunt. "How are you doing?"

"Hnn," he answered.

Sakura was a bit disappointed in Sasuke's lacking to reply so she decided to talk about what was going on with her. "Well, Tsunade-sama has accepted me to be her apprentice."

"What do you want anyway?" Sasuke asked in his usual monotone voice. He didn't really care what she had to say.

Sakura was getting a bit nervous at how easily frustrated Sasuke was getting. "I….just wanted to talk."

"And what makes you think I want to talk to you, let alone have time?" Sasuke asked in a sarcastic and annoyed tone. "I have things to be done."

"Well, I…." Sakura tried to answer the question but didn't know how to respond to that considering Sasuke was being completely ignorant of her. She noticed how he had been more quiet than usual ever since the day Naruto left. It then suddenly hit her like a ton of bricks (AN/JGOG: I wish that would happen literally). At least what she thought was correct anyway. "Come on, you're not still thinking about that idiot demon, are you?"

Sasuke just seemingly lazily glazed his eyes towards her. You could tell it was a cold glare just the way he looked. This was most likey due to how she referred to Naruto like that. She didn't notice the glare as she continued on. "All he did was make bringing you back worse. Have you forgotten how much pain he put you in to bring you back?" Sakura speaking as if talking about Naruto was like trying to gulp down a glass of two months expired milk. "Come on, all he did was take pleasure in beating the crap out of you. Gee, I guess I shouldn't be surprised since that's how demons are!" This made Sasuke finally snap.

"Shut up, Sakura! Just shut the fuck up!" Sakura froze with fear and surprise at Sasuke's outburst. "That idiot is our friend. Yes, I said it and I'll say it again. He is our **friend**. Don't you think a beating is all I need to knock some sense into me? After all I tried to convince him to let me go, he still wouldn't let up. He swore he would bring me back and he did. And you know why?"

Sakura didn't answer as she was still a bit afraid.

"It was all because he promised you. He followed his nindo and brought me back just like he promised **you** that he would. Instead of thanking him for doing so, you beat the crap out of him shunned him like an outcast as if he was the traitor when after all it should be me. I was willing to abandon this village for my own selfish reasons, he was willing to die to bring me back here to this village; the place he called home. What if he didn't use that much force on me? Then I would not be here at all. Is that what you wanted?" Sakura tried to speak but couldn't think of anything to say. Sasuke continued his berating.

"Ironic isn't it!? He did so much for this village and they shun him because of something dark inside him and they welcome me back when I didn't care enough." He sighed as he calmed down. "It's my fault that he's gone anyway." He tried to continue walking, but Sakura however, wouldn't just take a hint and stood in front of him, blocking him from his path.

"But Sasuke-" Sasuke gritted his teeth as he grabbed Sakura by the arms and pushed her against one of the tree trunks. "Get in my way again….and I'll kill you!" he threatened in a dark yet sort of monotone voice which made Sakura gasp.

"It sickens me to see how careless you act about him. I'm sorry for what happened to Naruto and I know what it's like to be alone. He feels it to. But if you can only accept Naruto because I say so," His voice had then turned darker than usual. "Then you aren't worthy to be acknowledged by me," Sasuke let go of Sakura's arms and continued walking.

"Sasuke…" Sakura muttered out with tears streaming out her eyes.

Sasuke answered her without stopping, "Stop speaking to me again. Just stay away from me. You, out of all the people in this village, are the one that sickens me the most." He then disappeared out of sight as tears were leaking out of Sakura's eyes as she lowered herself in front of the tree.

Of course, where Sasuke was going was something he was clever enough to not let Sakura know.

'_Naruto, you did a great thing for me forcing me to open my eyes by knocking some sense into me. That was pretty painful by the way. I wish I could take back what I did so you could be in this village again with people who care about you. Unfortunately that is something that cannot be done.. What I'm going to do next will not be. I'm going to repay what you did for me, dobe. So long, my friend; I hope I'll see you again when this is all over._'Sasuke recited these words in his mind as if he were speaking to the blonde knucklehead himself. He continued his way through the trees, towards the gate that would lead outside of the village.

Another part of the village, in the depths of the Forest of Death, a group of people were gathering secretly inside one of its remote and secluded areas. Who were these people one would ask? Well, with the exception of Neji, Sasuke and Sakura, it was the entire Rookie Nine along with Team Gai minus Neji as previously stated. While Shikamaru was took position at one of the trees as a look out for any of Danzo's followers, though the only reason he took up that position was to sit and take a nap, the other remaining ninja along with their teachers had gathered around a giant stump large enough to be used as a wrestling ring waiting for the meeting to begin. The Genin were a bit tired at being contacted in the morning to meet there, while the Jonin were wide awake and standing straight, ready to pay full attention for the meeting to begin. After ten minutes of waiting and chatting about casual matters, Kiba got impatient and spoke up.

"Well, who is the person that called this meeting here and why is it so important that we had to get up so early?"

Tsunade jumped up to the stump and raised her arms to silence the group from their chatting. After taking them a few seconds to quiet down, she spoke up. "Everyone, I called you all here because there is an important matter we need to discuss. The suggestion to speak of this matter, however, wasn't my idea but was brought up to me by one of your fellow comrades. And she and I would really appreciate it if you could give your full attention and cooperation at what she has to say."

The group agreed with a nod; Tsunade nodded over to Hinata, who jumped up to the stump along with Neji who had just appeared on the scene. Hinata whispered to Tsunade.

"Where's Sasuke and Sakura? Didn't they receive my message?"

"Sakura is too busy with her med training to come today and Sasuke wasn't at home so we left the message on his doorstep," Tsunade replied.

Hinata looked over the group who were keeping their eyes on her. She felt as if a lot of bright lights were shot on her and sweat was trickling down the sides of her face. For a moment, she thought suggesting this meeting was a mistake, she was never the type to play the role of 'spokesperson', but she remembered why she called this meeting here so she had to do what she needed to do. Still though, she was still too nervous to speak. She looked over to Neji who gave her a look that practically heard his voice in her mind that said "_Don't worry. Remember, this is for Naruto_." Hinata then felt more assured; after taking a deep breath, she then began to make her statement.

"Umm, good morning everyone. I'm sorry to have you come here so early but this matter couldn't wait. I've called you all here to discuss on the matter of Naruto-" she was then interrupted by Kiba.

"Oh for Kami's sake, she says it's important and it has to do with the demon. Screw this, I'm leaving," he said as he turned around and started to leave. It was stopped short as an Expansion Jutsu of Choji blocked his way.

"Kiba, you along with the rest of us agreed to arrive at this meeting. So, as her friend, you should at least listen to what she has to say," Choji said. Kiba growled a little and sat back down in his spot, mumbling inaudible swears.

"Thank you, Choji" Hinata turned back to the group. "As I was saying, I had you come here to discuss about Naruto and his recent departure. I have to say, even though I was no better, that I feel a bit disappointed in most of you in how you chanted for him to be killed."

"You chanted the same thing, Hinata. Don't be a hypocrite," Shino stated.

"Silence! Didn't she just say she did. Let her speak," Neji ordered. He nodded to Hinata, indicating for her to continue.

"It's true, I also chanted to be killed. I was so shocked, so caught up in the moment that it hit me like a slap to the face to learn that Naruto-kun was the demon container. My supposed hatred for the Kyuubi was all I could think about. I felt like I was…betrayed having the secret being kept from me for so long. I guess, I felt somewhat angry but I directed my anger at the wrong person. As a result, I still regret it," she paused as the pain of the memory was still fresh in my mind.

"The memory of me and the rest of you chanting for Naruto to be killed wasn't the only thing that was fresh on my mind from that day. I remember seeing Naruto's face, how sad and heartbroken he was." She paused as she wiped a few tears leaking down her eyes. "But that was the last thing on my mind that day. All I could think about was having the Kyuubi killed, almost as if it were the demon itself standing on that platform and Naruto-kun's image was nowhere to be seen. That's how ignorant I was. I was so sure of myself that I did the right thing, but later on after he had gone, I knew I had made a terrible mistake." Tenten and Ino were a bit saddened at hearing this and a little bit of guilt were building up inside them.

"Put yourself in his position. What if you, no family and all alone, having something so blasphemous put inside you that wasn't in any way your choice, getting glares from people, how your fellow comrades' parents would not allow them to associate with you, and all for reasons you had not known." You wouldn't know by looking at him from the outside, but Shino started to frown a little as well.

"Then when you find out the reason why, you are shocked yourself. That's understandable. You would think, 'So that's why people were treating me so badly. That I was all alone.' You would find a way to cope with it would you? Wouldn't you want to try to do something to prove the ignorant people who have discriminated against you that you are not as they see you? It's reasonable to want to earn their respect. Say that, as time went by, you get some respect from your comrades, and later they would become your most trusted friends. After being lonely for so long, you actually have people to talk too. Your sensei would look at you and be proud of how well you're progressing. That's something you would want to hear from a father, right?" Kakashi's eye drooped a bit at this. Kurenai smiled a bit, seeing how confident Hinata was being as she spoke.

"As time went by you gain friends that care about you, that love you, as if you were a sibling of their own." Shikamaru smirked a little in amusement as he listened, not because they thought the statement was a joke, but because how funny it was that it actually was a bit true. Naruto **did** seem like the annoying brother he never had. "You gain respect by, maybe not everyone, but a lot of the people that once gave you glares, instead gave you polite smiles or waves, seeing the error of their ignorance. It's the greatest thing in the world, isn't it? To be noticed and gaining the respect you craved from the people you wanted it from. I know that's what I wanted. To earn the respect of people I truly care about. Of the people I wanted to earn the respect, the one who truly noticed and cared was Naruto-kun. As well as my father.

"That brought me back to my senses; it filled me with regret after he left. Remembering at how he acted, and how strong and confident he was. How after he thought nobody believed in him, he still held his head up high and kept trying. Does that even sound like the way a demon acts? And for that matter, ask yourselves this: After finally achieving the happiness you wanted for so long mid-way in your path, not your all of your goals have been completed, but you're on your way. Imagine after all that, everyone that you cared about had turned their back on you, wanted you to die, actually chanting for you to be killed. But they don't refer to you by name, but as "demon". How would you feel of all that being taken away even though after all, it wasn't even your fault to begin with?"

After Hinata finished, she looked back and was a bit surprised herself that she said so much, and without stuttering to boot. She looked at the group and waited for them to say something. "So, with that being said, who is the real 'demon'?" she asked them with a determined look.

Kiba rubbed his forehead with his eyes closed in a bit of frustration after taking all what Hinata said in. "Amazing, simply amazing. After all that you still like that blonde knucklehead."

Hinata frowned as she thought Kiba wasn't really taking what she said at heart. Kiba looked up at her with a smirk. "And to actually bring up the courage to speak out so much isn't like you. That is definitely got to be Naruto's doing, not a demons." He stood up. "And besides, I don't think any demon would act that stupid, right?" Kiba stated with a chuckle. Hinata felt glad to hear that.

Ino stood up next. "I tell you, beating the crap out of Neji was definetly one hell of a show, but not killing him, that has got to be Naruto. Where's the demon in that?" she stated.

"Naruto, changed Neji's way of thinking a lot. You have got to be on medication or stupid to actually think a demon would have that kind of patience," Tenten said as she spoke up.

"Yosh! The beauty of youth can only spread so flawlessly from someone like Naruto; and so easily too! I like to see a demon try that," Lee said with a grin along with Gai sensei.

One by one, each of the Genin were coming to Hinata's way of thinking. Neji and Tsunade looked at her with a proud smile. Well Tsunade anyway. Neji had his usual indifferent façade. But on the inside he was pretty happy. Who knew how passionate and convincing she could be. The teachers were proud of there students for finally realizing the error of their perspectives. After a few minutes, all that was left was Kakashi. She just looked at the Jonin waiting for him to say something. He knew she was waiting for him. It was kind of obvious.

Kakashi looked from his book at everyone. He gave a huge sigh. "I have to admit, the little gaki really seems to grow on you after a while," he said, grinning through his mask.

Many years have pasted since that fateful birthday. Now there was a name known throughout the world. This person had many names. And he along with two of his comrades, were hunter nin ready for their next mission.

JGOG132: Well that ends this chap in the story.

Neji: Chap? What are you? Some kind of British guy?

JGOG132: Was that supposed to be a joke?

Neji: Was it funny?

JGOG132: No

Neji: Then no, it wasn't a joke.

JGOG132: Riiiiiiight

Naruto: Hey! It was me, wasn't it!

JGOG132: Huh?

Ndasuunye: What are you talking about?

Naruto: Me to answer Neji's earlier quote: "I assure the readers I won't be a hyperactive idiot like a certain blonde ninja." You were talking about me, weren't you?

Neji: Oh my Kami! Don't tell me you just got that!

JGOG132: What an idiot!

Ndasuunye: Why am I not surprised?

Naruto: Well, was it me or not?

JGOG132: (sarcasm) No….you're never hyper. (rolls eyes)

Naruto: Oooooh that's good. I actually thought you meant me.

Neji: He was being sarcastic you- (takes a deep breath) You know what I'm not even going to try and explain this. Excuse me as I'm going to slit my wrists.

Naruto: Hey! That's Sasuke's thing!

JGOG132: Add another to the emo ring then.

Ndasuunye: Well this was the third chapter. I know what your thinking. How boring that I will just skip straight to the timeskip. Well kitties that was just for this chapter. There will be more stuff explained which won't be too long and wont take up the entire chapter on the next one. Oh and I won't be updating for another while. I had to revise this entire thing in school by bits and pieces. So that took a while. So yeah. Most likely the next update will be during summer break. I have tons of things to do in school since I'm an 11th grader right now. SATs ACTs, regents, that stuff. Plus some things went down in my life that prolonged this. Also I haven't given up on my other stories they will be updated sometime. Just not now. Be happy this is being updated. So with nothing more to be said Ja Ne. As for what Sasuke will be accomplishing will also be told in the next chapter as well as something totally shocking. And the guy hunting Naruto was made by JGOG132. So Ja Ne.


	4. Death of a Fish Cake

JGOG132: Hey theeeere! IIIIIT IS THE J TO THE G TO THE O-G-1-3-2!

Naruto: AND THE N TO THE A AND THE A-R-U-T-O!

Ndasuunye: What are you two doing?

JGOG132: (shrugs) I always wanted to do that.

Naruto: I'm just following.

Ndasuunye: Whatever. Hi, readers, sorry for the long delay. What with the computer still busted and everything.

Naruto: ORRRRR!!! (starts to sing and dance) IT MUST'VE BEEN A TYPO! A TYPO! A TYPO!

JGOG132: Naruto, no we aren't doing that.

Naruto: IT MUST'VE BEEN A TYPO! IT CAN'T BE TRUE! IT MUST'VE BEEN A TYPO! A TYPO!

Ndasuunye: WTF!

Naruto: A TYPO! A TYPO! WE ALL MAKE MISTA-(interrupted by a gunshot to the head that sends him to the ground by the shotgun toting JGOG132)

JGOG132: Man, I hate when he doesn't listen.

Ndasuunye: Is he dead?

JGOG132: No, he'll be up before the chappie is over.

Ndasuunye: Then what was the point of shooting him?

JGOG132: It's fun! Wanna try?

Ndasuunye:....Sure!

JGOG132: Here ya go! (hands the Ndasuunye)

Ndasuunye: Thank you! (Shoots JGOG132)

JGOG132: AHH WHAT THE FUCK, MAN!

Ndasuunye: I'm trying it out like you said. Better run!

JGOG132: WAAAAHHHH!!!! (Runs away with a limp screaming while Ndasuunye keeps firing)

**Disclaimer: **Ndasuunye: I don't own Naruto or any of their characters and neither does JGOG132. Hey, J! You're right this is fun! (He laughs like a mad man as he chases JGOG132, firing away.)

**It Can't Be**

Three hours past since the meeting and Tsunade was already at her office acting mighty suspicious. She looked from her left to her right and vice versa cautiously. She peered around her office some more just to make sure. Finally, when she felt it was safe, she opened her bottom right drawer on her desk and pulled out a bottle of sake. She let out a big sigh of relief that it was undiscovered. Now some would say that would be a stupid place to put it, but when you put a good Genjutsu over it, it's pretty darn good. As she quickly took it out hugging it in happiness, she noticed a piece of paper fall on the ground. As she picked it up and read its contents, it noted:

_Dear Tsunade-sama,_

_If you are reading this, then I am already out of the village. I left sometime before your meeting. I left to go to Orochimaru for training. Although I am grateful for the fact that he brought me back as well as being apologetic for the fact that I got my best friend banished, I still need power. I don't intend to abandon this village, just be away for the time being. At least until I'm done using Orochimaru. Until then. Oh and find a better spot for your liquor._

Tsunade was beyond furious. She couldn't believe it. After all that effort and sacrifice, the little gaki still goes and runs off. Speaking of which, how the hell did he even pass the gates. She had an idea how.

**"**Shizune!"

Immediately the assistant appeared in office.

"Bring the council to me in one hour."

"Hai. But how did he get past the gates?"

"Since, he has the Sharingan, I'm guessing he forged my signature on a note for something.

Two hours later, and no bottles of sake later, Tsunade was relieved. Next week the new bingo book would be sent out across the area with Uchiha Sasuke's name on it. The surprising thing was that no one vouched for the Uchiha which relieved and shocked Tsunade and Shizune. The aggravating part was the rank and ryo; Tsunade won and was able to make it A-rank. The council elders were trying to make the boy an S-rank criminal only for a genin. The ryo was a bit too much for the boy and their budget making his bounty 100,000 dead or alive. Annoying it was but glad it was out of the way. Sakura heard about his leave soon after, bringing her and Ino to tears. It was actually quite funny, Kiba cursed the bastard for it full frontally. Neji, Chouji and even Shikamaru were quite peeved as well. Of course Shikamaru was most pissed even though he didn't explode. He teared and cried for his friends all for a worthless mission. He even said the money for the mission wasn't worth it. Of course he took it anyway.

A month had passed and the village was still rebuilding to return to where it once was.

In the Konoha's hospital, Sakura, one of the hospitals new nin medics was making her appointed rounds, checking the status of the patients that were assigned under her care. She checked inside each of the occupied patient rooms, making sure they were no problems and that the patient was still in stable conditions. When she went into the room of one of the patients, which was currently occupied by her former sensei, Umino Iruka, she saw that he grasping his right side with a pain expression on his face taking in fast breaths. She rushed over to check on him

"Is something wrong, Iruka-sensei?" Sakura asked.

Iruka looked smirked a bit as he looked at Sakura. He spoke to her trying to ignore the pain searing at his side.

"Damn side is burning up again. Feels like Asuma is putting out a giant lit cigarette on my side and....AHH.....won't take it off," Iruka responded to her, still wincing a bit. He had returned from an S-ranked mission a few days earlier with a few cuts and bruises and a large third degree burn on his right side at the level of his ribcage.

"Ok, just hold on a minute. I'll get some cream to cool it down," Sakura assured him. He nodded as she left the room to get some cream. On her way down the hall to the medical supply room, she stopped at a corner as she heard Shizune and Tsunade talking. Curiosity struck her so she decided to listen in for a bit.

"So, did you get any reports sighting reports on where he might be?" Tsunade asked.

"No, Tsunade-sama. We've only received minor reports that he may have been spotted in a few villages. But they aren't 100%," Shizune responded.

"Well, keep checking them. I'll take almost anything I can get from those reports. If they can be piece together any of them to get a certain location on where he was or might be, I want to be the first to know. Unless you can't get any info from those reports, I would suggest you keep them until I give the okay to throw them out," Tsunade ordered.

"Yes, Tsunade-sama, I'll keep looking through them to find any useful information," Shizune said with a nod.

_What could they be talking about? _Sakura wondered as she kept listening from behind the corner to avoid being seen.

"Good, after so long and so many tips and reports, I'll take just about anything I can get in order to find Naruto," Tsunade said. Sakura fumed when she heard this. Just the mention of the name of the blonde gaki made her blood boil. As soon as Tsunade and Shizune left in the opposite direction of the hallway, Sakura continued on her way to the medical supply room.

A few moments later, she was back in Iruka's room, rubbing the cream on the affected areas of his burned side. When they were done, Iruka put his patient shirt back on and laid back down on the bed.

"There you go. Just let me know if the burning starts to build up again, Iruka-sensei," Sakura informed him as she pulled the blanket over him with a seemingly innocent smile.

"Thank you, Sakura. Oh, and you don't have to call me 'sensei' anymore. I haven't taught you anymore lessons in so long" he responded returning the smile with his own.

Sakura chuckled. "Sorry, I guess some habits are still hard to break." With that being said, she left the room. After she closed the door behind her, she turned around and was alarmed to see Tsunade appearing right in front of her.

"H-Hokage-sama, what a surprise," Sakura said with an innocent greeting expression, hoping that Tsunade didn't notice her spying earlier. Boy, how wrong she was.

"You know better than to spy on your Hokage and sensei when she's in a private conversation, Sakura," Tsunade said with her arms crossed and an unpleasant expression on her face.

"I'm sorry. I just-" Sakura tried to explain herself but was interrupted by her leader.

"Spare me your apologies, I'm not really concerned about you listening in on me at the moment. I have something else I need to discuss with you," Tsunade said.

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked, pretending she didn't know what Tsunade was talking about.

"Don't give me that; I sensed your chakra rise when I mentioned his name. And the very thought of bringing him up burns you still," Tsunade pointed out.

Sakura didn't want to get into a dispute about the subject of Naruto, so she tried to make her way to the next room but Tsunade stood in her way.

"Hokage-sama, I got to continue my appointed rounds," Sakura said.

"Oh no, not this time, Haruno. I've tried to get you to talk to me for this past month about this but you only managed to avoid it. Well, not this time. This time I won't let you leave until you heard me out," Tsunade assured her.

"Why should I, huh?! Why the fuck should I even listen for 10 seconds about that gaki?!" Sakura snapped as she was pissed at Tsunade's persistence.

"You obviously still have issues concerning Naruto and I think it's best that you discuss them now before it shatters you in the long run."

Sakura pushed Tsunade out of the way, apparently was too pissed to care who she was snapping at, "I could care less what happens to that demon. That little piece of shit can die for all I care!"

Then it was Tsunade who had enough. That last sentence boiled her up like a pot of ready ramen. She grabbed Sakura by the hair and started dragging.

"Ow! What the hell?! Let me go!" Sakura demanded.

"If you're not going to listen to reason willingly, then I'll have to force it into you until you get it," Tsunade said as she continued dragging Sakura.

"I got patients to tend to!"

"I sent Shizune to take care of it. Today I have one more lesson to teach you!" Tsunade growled as she entered an empty operating room pulling Sakura in. She let go of Sakura and then shut the door and put a lock seal on it so no one could enter or exit the room. She then made a tight grasp on Sakura's wrist and wrapped wire around them including the fingers enough so Sakura won't be able to move any of her hands.

"What is this?!"

"Do you know the meaning of empathy?!"

"Huh?!"

"Do you understand what kind of pain he's going through?! Do you have any idea that, even though he has something inside of him, that there still are regular human feelings arisen from his shell that affects him?! DO YOU?!" Tsunade asked in a demanding tone as she shut the lights off.

"He deserves what's coming to him!" Sakura shouted back.

"There must be a reason why you still hate him. It can't be because of Sasuke, can it? He's left on his own accord this time due to his brother. Is it because of Sasuke?"

"Yes," Sakura responded with a nod.

"Then you're more ignorant than I thought. What made you dislike him in the first place?"

Sakura looked away and didn't respond.

"Did someone tell you that he was a monster? Did someone tell you to hate him?"

"You got it," Sakura answered coldly with a glare. In response she received a hard slap from her Hokage that sent her knocking to the ground. "My mother always used to tell me when I was younger to stay away from him because he was a monster. I was right to believe her." She got another hard smack to the face.

"Like I said, I will teach you one more lesson. I will have you literally feel what Naruto is feeling on the day you and the rest outcasted him."

Tsunade performed a few hands seals. When she finished, the room became more dark; Sakura's vision was becoming blinded. She tried to release the Genjutsu but the wire was too tight around her wrist, in result she only winced at the pain of making an effort to remove them. Sakura looked around, but she couldn't see Tsunade or anything else for that matter. She could still hear though as Tsunade's voice was ringing like an echo.

"_Imagine yourself in the darkest part of the shadiest corner of a lightless area."_

Sakura then felt that the air was coming out of her lungs. She had no oxygen, in which she could hardly breathe. She gasped heavily trying to gain air, but to no avail.

"_Imagine the asphyxiation, the suffocating that you occur. Hard to breathe. No air."_

Sakura looked around and saw a few people. She screamed for help, but they seemed to ignore her. She screamed out as long as she could, until her voice cracked.

"_In need of help. Begging for it by others, but in response you get nothing. They drift away, leaving you to a fate that you don't deserve."_

As the people drifted away, Sakura could see many knives, katanas, swords, and senbon appearing before her. They then sped towards her and struck her in many areas of her body quickly enough before she could move. She would scream in pain if she couldn't breathe and her voice being cracked. She fell to the ground with blood seeping from her wounds as the darkness clouded her vision once again as the pain and suffocation was continuing relentlessly.

"_Having areas of your body being destroyed, over and over again. No one to help you. All alone. The pain that smothering you and all for something that's not your fault. And then your left alone with blood spilling from your wounds. With nobody to help you, to care for you. There is only darkness."_

Sakura opened her eyes once again. She was awake at last. Or so it seemed. She still believed he deserved all that torture. Matter of fact, he needed more if that's all he was getting. She saw a small boy run right past her, his eyes tearing and his nose dripping screaming to leave him alone. Now why would someone bother such a small boy like that. She was going to stop that in a heartbeat. It wasn't until she heard those four words.

"Get back here demon."

It suddenly felt like her heart stopped and she suddenly became scared. The boy was then gone but she didn't decide to run until she saw them stop in front of her. She looked into a nearby window only to see her reflection look exactly like Naruto's when he was much younger. She then ran again, telling them to leave her alone and that she wasn't a monster. She quickly ducked into a corner under a wheel barrel panting hard. She looked to her left to see the same Naruto she was just portraying. She was scared now, just as much as he was. He started to cry. No one would help him.

"They keep calling me a monster for no reason. I don't understand why," Naruto said tearing up and talking to himself. He kept sniffling and looked around more till he left from under the wheel barrel. She looked at his appearance and it was terrible. His shirt was badly tattered showing pieces of his bare skinny chest. The parts she did see were grotesque. He had scars in multiple places. His pants and sandals weren't much different. He even had cuts on his face. The tears and snot running his face weren't making him look any more prettier.

He looked deeper in the corner and found a cardboard box. He was lucky as he would call it since it started raining.

"It's not fair; they call me names and beat for no reason. I didn't do anything to no one. They don't do this to anyone but me."

He started crying loudly bringing tears to even Sakura eyes. She thought Sasuke had it rough when he first lost his family, but Naruto had been living a tormented life for something that he didn't understand apparently. And yet he still grew to be a kind person despite what people thought of him. All Sakura could do was close her eyes and cry silently to herself for Naruto.

She opened her eyes again, this time she found herself back in the hospital room with Tsunade by her side. Apparently Tsunade stopped the Genjutsu. A tear leaked like a broken faucet from her eyes as she lifted herself up on her knees. Tsunade then unwrapped the wire from her wrists.

"Now, I will leave you here to ponder on it. After that...come back to me when you've finally understood the pain that Naruto suffers and how much....he needs our help," Tsunade answered. She then walked to the door, released the seal and exited the room.

"I'll be in my office if you need me," Tsunade said. She then closed the door, leaving Sakura to her thoughts.

Two years past and the village were running smoothly. Villagers doing various activities, people were on missions and Tsunade was in her office. It was that time of the month to check on her Naruto reports. She then felt a presence she hadn't felt in two years.

"Jiraiya?" she said questionably.

"Hey old hag, how's it been," he responded cheerfully. He was then smacked in the head with a stapler.

"See, you're as cheerful as ever." His mood then dropped to seriousness before he continued. "I need to see the council right away. I have some news for them they might want to hear. You should also be there to hear it."

"What's going on? And where is Naruto?"

"It concerns Naruto. Now if you would be so kind to escort me to the council meeting room with council in all."

It was an hour before the necessary people were in the council meeting room, which were just the three council elders.

"Alright Jiraiya, what is it that was so important that you had to drag me away from my bath," said Koharu.

"Well, I have just come back to confirm that the missing-nin Uzumaki Naruto has been killed a week ago from today. I had also brought three people here who can vouch for me on this."

Three people came into the room. Two were average citizens and one seemed like an intimidating man. Their story was simple: Jiraiya was in their brothel "doing research", emphasis on the word doing. Suddenly a boy with sun kiss blonde hair came through the door like he was slammed in. He had a large bag of money. He fought some person and the battle wasn't all too long. The boy had two chakra tails swirling violently behind him and his canines were larger than usual and he had deep whisker marks. Some man who was completely garbed, save his eyes and hands, had finished the boy off and finally the intimidating man entered the scene swiping his money from Naruto's hand. Tsunade only teared up from what she heard. There was no way this could have happened. Naruto dead, that was impossible.

"Jiraiya you baka, why didn't you help him you asshole?!" she yelled tears streaming down her face.

"He wanted to fight the guy on his own no matter how much I tried to step in. So I finally gave up and let him handle it. I jumped in at the last minute but it was already too late." His tone of voice never changed from that monotone. Tsunade was getting ready to deck Jiraiya right then and there. Koharu then jumped in.

"Alright so I'm guessing that you want the bounty money for him?"

"Actually no, we know he was a demon and only are glad that such a demon is now exterminated."

Tsunade was about to retort to that comment about Naruto as well but was cut off by Danzo.

"Well, that's good to hear. Well, thank you Jiraiya for giving us that tidbit of information Jiraiya. Is there anything else needed to say before we adjourn this meeting."

Jiraiya turned to Tsunade's eyes which were too filled with tears to see.

"Well here is his headband Tsunade, a memento to remember him by."

She caught the scarred headband thrown at her, holding it tightly to her chest.

"What about my necklace?"

"His body was burned up with a katon Jutsu along with the necklace. Oh yeah, his jacket was saved as well. As for the scrolls, no one knows where they could be."

The meeting was adjourned and as soon as Tsunade and Jiraiya were alone in her office, she punched him dead in the face driving him through a wall into the hallway. He wiped the blood off his face as he got up, dusting the rubble off him.

"Don't think I am not saddened about this either Tsunade. It's just that he thought he was a big boy and paid the ultimate sacrifice. Besides I can't let something like that sadden me like that. You meet people; some you like, some you don't. Those you do like, will eventually die; there's no avoiding that. This was just Naruto's time."

He paused for a minute thinking back. "Ironic, the previous week from today the people of Konoha was celebrating the loss of Kyuubi. What they didn't realize was that they were also celebrating Kyuubi's true death. Before you go overboard, saying why I am calling Naruto the demon, I'm not. It's just when Naruto dies so does the demon inside him."

It was an eerie silence now. Tsunade was busy looking and twiddling with Naruto's headband and Jiraiya was looking the other way.

"Will you break it to his friends?"

"No, I'll hold a funeral for him but Danzo will announce his death to everyone. I guess it's good the necklace is gone. It brings too much misfortune."

Two days later, people were mourning, crying, the works. Hinata and Sakura took it the hardest. Hinata, for the fact that she still loved him and Sakura, for regret and guilt. After all those times he saved her, she didn't once thank him. What a friend she was.

The mood of the funeral was very depressing with everyone outfitted in black, like in every funeral. The sky was filled with dark clouds that were ready to pour rain, yet they remained dry. It rivaled the mood of the Third Hokage's funeral, though the attendance was less than half. It was like the gods mocked this day and was glad the gaki was gone.

Those who still cared for Naruto were there: the remaining Shinobi of the Rookie 9 and their jounin leaders, Gai and his students, the Konohamaru Corp., Teuchi, Ayame, and Iruka. Even Ebisu and a few villagers, who barely knew Naruto yet were a little fond of him, were there.

Also a few from foreign lands that met Naruto came to attend: Inari with his grandpa and mother, Princess Yukie from the Land of Spring, Shibuki from the Village Hidden in a Waterfall, Jirocho Wasabi and Idate from the Land of Tea, Sansho and her son, Karashi, from the Curry of Life shop. Gaara and his siblings would've attended but were still resentful to Konoha for what happened to Naruto; they had Baki attend in their stead along with a message of grievance.

They were all gathered on the roof of the Hokage building, in front of a wreath with a big sash that said "R.I.P. Uzumaki Naruto, courtesy of the Yamanaka Flower Shop, on the side of a long black-draped table with a portrait of the knuckleheaded ninja, his folded trademark orange jacket, and headband on displayed.

The people who were too ignorant to attend stayed within 50 acres from the funeral, lest they be prosecuted and sent to jail for six months as Tsunade sent out in a bulletin. Ibiki, Anko, the old InoShikaCho team, 4 assigned ANBU Black Ops members, Tsume and Hana with their nin-dogs stood guard in a perimeter around the building as a precautionary measure.

Out in front stepped out Tsunade, along with Jiraiya and Shizune beside her. They took a brief look at the display and then turned to face the attendees. They were glad to see the number of people that came willingly. Tsunade gazed a bit at the sad faces. She made quite an effort to keep the tears back when she began the eulogy, "It has been two years since my appointing to Hokage.......and it has been two years since I met Naruto. To be honest, my first impression of him was quite irritating; so irritating that he reminded me of my late brother. I'm sure there are those of you that got that impression from him."-she started to sob softly for a moment until she regained her composure and continued-"However...were it not for him, I wouldn't have come back to Konoha. It was because of him, I was inspired to take up the role and lead this village as your Godaime. He changed me...It was his inspiration that changed me. That same inspiration that he used to change a lot of the people he met. He dragged them out of their dark, lonely shells...and brought them into the light. That inspiration is the main thing that will keep his memory alive for all eternity...and will not be forgotten. Let it be assured that it won't, even until the end of time."

A lot of people were touched by Tsunade's words, but Hinata was the one that was touched the most as tears streamed uncontrollably down her pale cheeks.

"How many people who grew up as orphans? No parents? No siblings? No pets? Growing up a lonely life, how many people can you find with that same kind of will power? That strength to hold their head up high even after enduring cruel obstacles and ridicules?" Though the question was rhetorical, the demeanor that Tsunade had was mirroring one of expecting an answer. She pointed a figure at the portrait, "**That** is rare, if not unique."

She walked over to the table and pulled out a rose that she kept hidden in her robe and placed it softly on the table. "Thank you...for everything, Naruto," whispered to the portrait. With that, she turned her face back to the mourners. "Uzumaki Naruto, is a rare breed of, not just a ninja, but a human being. People like him...you don't find around the corner. People like him come once, maybe twice, in a century." She stood to the side of the table. "Before I continue, if anyone of you has anything to say and/or offer...feel free to do so."

The first one to go up was Jiraiya. Once he approached the table he spoke, "Naruto...I never did like kids. Could never picture myself to have any, not even to be a father figure. But, I...."-he sniffled a bit-"I want you to know...that I...always kind of thought of you like...a grandson to me." He then pulled out what seemed to appear as an Icha Icha Paradise book and placed it on the table as an offering. "This volume is the only one of its kind. I know you never got to actually have the chance to read my books, but I want you to have it." He bowed his head. "Goodbye, magomusuko".

Jiraiya stepped back, and next came Shizune along with Tonton following her. "This probably might not be appropriate, but I **did** warn you that the necklace was cursed. Only...when Tsunade-sama gave it to you...I was hoping that I wrong. I'm sorry, Naruto. Thank you...and goodbye," Shizune said as she bowed her head.

"Bui...bui," Tonton muttered sadly. After Shizune place her rose down and stepped back, she and Tonton walked to Tsunade's side along with Jiraiya and waited for the next person to come up.

Sakura stepped in from the mourners and approached the table, rose in hand. "Naruto, I was never a good friend to you, was I?"-she wiped a tear from her eye-"After all those times that you saved me, I never did once thank you. You were always so nice to me, and all I did was push you away. Yet, you still were nice to me even though I didn't return that kindness in full. Always thought of you as a baka."-she started to sob a bit-"And now you're dead because of it...I'm really sorry, Naruto. I truly...and sincerely am sorry." She placed her rose and bowed her head. "I hope your spirit forgives me. Goodbye and thank you for saving me." She walked back into the group wiping the tears from her face.

"I have to say Naruto...I never thought you would go before me," Iruka said with a sad chuckle. "You were, not only my favorite student, but always like a little brother to me. I can only hope that you thought of me as a brother in returned."-he smiled with streams of tears dripping down his cheeks-"If I ever am lucky enough to have children...I'll be grateful if they are half the people you are." He then pulled something from his robe, revealed to be Naruto's old goggles and placed them. He then bowed his head. "When my time comes, let's hangout when we meet in the afterlife; I'll bring the ramen."

Next the Konohamaru and his friends approached. "Hey, boss," Konohamaru began. He thought that he would know what to say, but being standing right there knowing his idol was dead made him blank with words. He could only hold back a few tears as he continued, "I'm sorry for what happened. If only I knew what to do or say to stop it all, you would still be here." He sniffled a bit and wiped his nose. "We...made something for you." He turned to his teammates who, on signal, brought out a lumpy and poorly made clay molding of Naruto's head and placed it on the table. If it weren't a funeral, some of the mourners would be chuckling, but the offering was a nice gesture regardless. "Also, we decided to rename are team as the 'Naruto(Fish Cake) Corp.' in honor of you." He and the rest of his teammates bowed their heads. "Bye, boss and thank you." After Moegi put placed her rose, they stepped back into the group.

Then Kiba with Akamaru approached. He appeared to be shaking when he got there. "Naruto...the thought of you...gone. It's unreal. These mochi balls are from my mom," He indicated as he placed a bowl of mochi balls on the table. "She ain't exactly a master chef, but they're pretty decent....Even though we weren't exactly the best of friends, we still had good times though. Like...remember the time back when we were at the academy at age 7? That time when you came up with the idea of putting hot grilled charcoal on Iruka-sensei's chair?" he chuckled while reminiscing. "Remember? Unfortunately our Genjutsu wasn't so good at the time, so he spotted it, but you had a plan B and hid a tiny letter bomb underneath it. So when he tried to pick up the charcoal with oven mitts, the letter bomb exploded and"-he laughed silently-"a-and the hot charcoal scorned all over his face. And he screamed in pain. We were laughing so hard, man. Then he chased after us." He regained his composure so as to not make a scene. He went back to serious. "I wish you were alive today...that way we could've had more time to hang out more, maybe even become better friends." He held a hand to his face in a vain attempt to hold back tears. "Ah...damn blond....baka," Kiba muttered. He then headed back to the group before he got too emotional. Akamaru hopped up to the table and placed a bone he had in his mouth as an offering before following behind Kiba.

It kept going on for quite a while, with the rest of the mourners approaching one at a time with some words of gratitude and parting along with their own offerings: Shikamaru with his Shogi pieces, Chouji with a bag of chips, Shino with a book of information on every bug from A to Z, Lee with his lucky jumpsuit, Teuchi and Ayame with a pair of specially modified gold chopsticks with Naruto's name on them, Kakashi with the two training bells, Sansho and Karashi with a bowl of freshly made Curry, and so forth. One or two at a time, the rest offering flowers, bowls of food, or any unique items that everyone there could think of was offered.

After that, the last people to go up were Hinata and Neji. She knelt down crying just as she got there, obligating Neji to comfort her. After a few more tears and sniffles, Hinata gazed at the handsome portrait of her heart's owner, "Naruto-kun, since the first time I met you, I've always admired you. Your inspiration…your courage have always made me want to grow stronger. I was too shy to approach you; always was too shy to even look at you in the eye. I thought that if I grew stronger, I would gain the confidence I could to prove myself to my father. But most importantly: to prove myself to you. Those feelings of admiration grew into something more"-she stopped as she sobbed again. She wiped her nose.-"I finally realized when you cheered me on back at that match with Neji…that I loved you. It is regret…that fills me that you were not alive long enough for me to let you know how I felt about you. And I wish I could go back in time and stop myself from cheering for you to die." She stood up and walked in front of the table and leaned in close until her face was an inch apart from the photo. "I wish you could hear me when I say this…I love you, Naruto-kun. Even in death, my heart will always belong to you"-she then gave a quick peck on the lips of the photo-"Goodbye, Naruto-kun," tears fell down her face continually when she walked back into the crowd. Before Neji followed her, he brought out something from his cloak and placed it on the table: a pair of shackles except that they were broken. "You are now free from that mark that you carry, there are no shackles holding you down now. You're finally free….Thanks, Naruto. Goodbye," he then followed Hinata back into the group.

With that being the last mourner, Tsunade decided to finish her eulogy, "Naruto, was our friend, brother, comrade, but most of all: our hero. So don't remember him as the demon that he's wasn't. Don't just remember him as the mischievous obnoxious troublemaker that he was. Well you can kind of. But also remember him as Uzumaki Naruto….the greatest hero that this village has ever had." With that being finished everyone bowed their heads in respect.

During the five minutes of the silence that came after, the only thing not quiet was Akamaru giving 5 long howls in Naruto's honor. Also joined in were the Haimaru Three brothers, and Kuromaru. In those five minutes, there wasn't a dry eye on that roof top, nor were there with the guards, and that wasn't due to the rain that came pouring down. Those who weren't sobbing or letting up emotion; the more proud or disciplined people, let little tears streak down their faces. In those five minutes, the realization of the blonde knucklehead's death was finally visible to them all. It seemed that the gods did care for Naruto's death.

After an hour, it was over and the only people left at the funeral were Tsunade and Jiraiya, who were discussing where to put Naruto's personal effects, and Hinata, who decided to stay for a little bit longer to soak up the last visibility of her Naruto-kun.

"It's quite obvious that we can't bury his personal effects in the regular graveyard," Jiraiya told Tsunade.

She nodded, "I agree. There's no telling what people would do to his tombstone after it's been placed."

"So, where do we put 'em?" Jiraiya asked.

"In the Hokage Crypt," Tsunade answered.

"Really?" Jiraiya was a bit surprised. "That crypt is where the deceased bodies of the past Hokages are kept."

"I know," Tsunade stated with a nod as she took another glance at Naruto's jacket. "You and I both know it's more than appropriate to move his effects and offerings there. It's pretty clear that he would've made a better Hokage than me and the other four combined."

Jiraiya agreed. "It will be done." He then disappeared to take care of the arrangements.

Hinata then approached Tsunade, a bit nervous on what she was going to ask.

"Um, Hokage-sama."

"Yes Hinata?"

"I was wondering if I could hold on to his headband."

She simply smiled a soft warm smile. The girl really did love Naruto after all. Handing the headband over, Hinata carefully wrapped it around her waist, the metal facing forward. She smiled as tears flowed from her pale orbs down her smooth face.

"Naruto-kun, for you I will become a strong ninja."

Even in death, that kid was an inspiration.

Meanwhile, out in a quiet forest of the land of Beasts, Houfu was busy surveying the surroundings while chewing meat off the bone of a deer he recently hunted. He sat in front of the camp fire with his sword laid on the ground to his side. The chewing was fast and brutal with aggravation as he was becoming more aware of how far his target was getting away from him.

From the past two years, he had traveled to different villages in various lands due to Naruto having made his presence in those areas. At the time he arrived at the Sand Village, Naruto had already left leaving little evidence of where he had gone. Combined with his tracking skills and interrogation techniques, Houfu could only make it so far and still not even get close enough as being in the same area as the Kyuubi container. He took a whole lot of meat with an aggressive chomp at the very memory of his failing to achieve the target.

While he was pondering these annoying thoughts, four shadowy cloak-wearing figures watched Houfu from a careful distance in the trees.

"This is getting tireless; when do we strike?" the first figure whispered with impatience.

"Patience, though it does seem like he is careless, some Shinobi can be quite deceiving. We need to wait just a moment or at least until we're sure that he's completely off guard," the second figure whispered.

"His sword seems to look quite valuable," the third figure whispered. "Perhaps we can steal it once we're done with him then sell it for some easy money," the fourth figure whispered. The four watched Houfu very carefully, just itching to strike at the first moment they take.

"Blasted gaki," Houfu hissed to himself. "That bastard, Danzo, said you wouldn't be a hard target to catch. He either was lying or stupid,"-he scoffed a bit-"As annoying as it is, I have to admit the boy seems to be pretty crafty to slip away for so lo-" He stopped in mid-sentence as he accidentally inhaled a piece of bone and began choking.

"There it is, now we strike!" the first figure exclaimed, seizing the opportunity. The second one tried to stop them but they were already making their move. Without any choice he followed as they charged into action towards the choking Houfu.

However, with a grin, Houfu noticed their presence and quickly flashed a few hand signs. He took a gagging breath and hacked up hundreds of tiny toothpick-shaped bones. Noticing the incoming projectiles, the first figure, who appeared to be huger than the rest, leapt to another branch to avoid them while the other three brought out their weapons to deflect them.

The second figure brought out a spear with a red tassel hanging on the back of the blade and, with incredible flexibility and movements, deflected most of the projectiles. The other two figures, who were the smallest of the four but same size as each other, brought out brought out their own pairs of hook swords and deflected the rest.

Fortunately for Houfu, he used that as a distraction as he grabbed his sword and leapt up to the branches toward them and started to attack. He swiped the blade at the large figure, who avoided it and retaliated with a hard punch to the gut which, to Houfu's surprise, had massive power in it. He nearly coughed up blood and was sent aerial flight. He caught onto a branch of another tree before he could fall any further to the ground.

When he was pulling himself up with one hand and grasping his sword with the other, the third and fourth figures hopped from branch to branch towards him. Excited for the kill, they stabbed the points of their swords into the back of his hand, making him yelp in pain and let go of the branch. While midway falling to the ground, the second figure threw a series of daggers at him which Houfu tried to block with his sword but got struck in the chest by most of them.

The first, third and fourth figures jumped down after him. Seeing this, he built chakra to his hands and feet and caught onto the trunk of a tree and waited for them to come, while trying to block the pain from his seeping wounds. The hook sword wielders were fast in their attacks, but Houfu was fast with his sword and, with little effort, deflected their attacks and kicked the two in opposite directions sending them to the ground, but surprisingly they latched their feet onto nearby trunks to slow down their fall. Before he could recuperate, a huge fist of the big figure connected with his cheek, fracturing it and sent him towards the ground.

As if it weren't enough, the strong figure broke off a large branch and threw it towards the falling Houfu and it impacted with his upper body just as he crashed into the ground. When there was no sign of movement from Houfu's fallen body, the four figures hopped down and cautiously approached it. When they were just an inch away, a big puff of cloud appeared and revealed in place of the body was a log coated with letter bombs. Alarmed, the figures jumped away and the bombs exploded. As an added bonus, out of the explosion came hidden flying kunai and shuriken which the figures tried to shield themselves with their arms and weapons.

In one direction, the spear wielder smacked back first into a big rock. In midst of the pain, he noticed that the rock had a letter bomb stuck to it as well. Unfortunately, he was only half a foot away from the bomb by the time it detonated. His cloak caught on fire as a result which he took off rapidly and stomped on it. He revealed himself to be a man of 25, black hair that was in a long pony that descended halfway down his back. His eyes were black with white pupils. His nose was small but a little round on his tanned skin. He wore a long sleeved net shirt that revealed outlines of his muscles and had gray armor plating hooked on his torso. His pants were loose and mauve and had about 20 daggers hung by the handle around his waist in a belt-like form and his boots were of a military style that had a dagger sheathed into the ankle of the right one.

Meanwhile, in another direction, one of the flying kunai cut a hidden wire which seemed to activate a trap as a large log came tumbling from out of nowhere and straight towards the hook wielders and strong one. They hopped over it with ease, which left the strong guy to fend for himself. He kicked his foot right into the wood, stopping the log before it could crush him.

"Jing, do you see him anywhere?!" the large one called out to the spear wielder as he eyed the area suspiciously.

Jing shook his head. "No! Damn it, Han, I told you to wait! This guy is tougher than he first appeared," he pointed out.

As if on cue, Houfu appeared right behind Han. He didn't have a scratch on him. "That was stupid on your part: Never underestimate your target," he growled with a smug grin on his face.

Seeing Houfu behind him, Han bent his knees, picked up the log and swung it at Houfu, who jumped onto the incoming log and ran towards the wielder and dropkicked him in the face. Han dropped the log and grasped his face, which was bleeding from the right nostril. He glared at Houfu, who sat on top of the log crossed leg with that same grin on his face as if he was relaxing. Letting it get to him, Han roared and charged at Houfu in a rage. Houfu just stepped to the side and left his foot out making Han trip and smack face first onto the log, but not before Houfu grabbed onto the hood of the cloak and pulled it off. Han was of a body builder shape of a guy, in his mid-40s, considering he had somewhat of a middle-aged gut. He had short buzz cut black hair, brown eyes and tan skin. The only clothing he wore was tight black pants and boots. He didn't have a single weapon on him, which Houfu found both amusing and impressive.

While regaining composure and getting back to his feet, Han noticed Houfu taunting him by waving the cloak like a bullfighter. "Toro Toro!" he yelled with a laugh in a mocking Spanish accent, angering Han further. He charged at Houfu, who waved the cloak with his two hands, and then tried to tackle him. Houfu stepped to the side and waved the cloak once again. "Wow! This is like fighting a bull...well except bulls are smarter!" Houfu exclaimed with a laugh. Han was really pissed off as he charged once again, and once again Houfu stepped to the side and waved the cloak. However, instead of charging into nothingness, Han clunked his head right onto the flat side of Houfu's blade, stunning him.

Houfu waved his finger in front of Han's dazed eyes a mocking motherly manner. "You're very muscular, but too much muscle puts a lot of weight into your moves, slowing them down," Houfu explained with a chuckle. One of the hook wielders then tried to charge at Houfu from behind and slashed at him. With ease Houfu ducked to avoid and the strike grazed across Han's chest, painstakingly bringing him out of his daze.

"AHH!!! Wu, you idiot!" Han screamed in pain and frustration.

"Sorry!" Wu apologized, but then coughed up as a laughing Houfu slammed the hilt right into his gut. "You guys make me laugh!" Houfu exclaimed as Han tried to punch him in the face but failed as Houfu once again ducked resulting the fist connecting with Wu's face knocking him out and sending him crashing into the log.

Angry at his foolish mistake, Han continued swinging punches at Houfu in a vain attempt to harm him, but either he was too slow or Houfu was too quick. Most likely, both. Houfu got bored and caught Han's fist at the 8th swing and wrapped the cloak around it tight enough and then twisted it far enough to force Han to bend forward. "You know if losing some weight could make you a bit more lighter. How bout I do it for you right now by breaking your arm off?" Houfu queried in an excited demeanor. Clearly, he was toying with these guys.

"No, don't! I beg you!" Han quickly responded.

Noticing the other hook sword wielder and Jing charging in, Houfu decided to forget about the arm ripping and went with sweep kicking him in the ankle, slamming him on his back. "May I borrow your gut?" Houfu asked rhetorically. He let go of the cloak, jumped right on Han's gut, and bounced right off and disappeared into the upper regions of the trees just as the other two were about to strike. They looked up to see any sign of him until a cough from behind alerted them to his presence.

He waved sheepishly when they turned to face him. They weren't amused and went into battle ready stance. Houfu shrugged, "Well, so much for a little comic relief. Very well."-he gripped his sword with his two hands-"En guard," he muttered.

With that, the two charged at and started attacking. While avoiding Jing's stabs, the clanging of the metal between his blade and the hook swords were practically music to his ears. Besides that his footwork was pretty good as he stepped back in a formation almost like a fencer. While the two fighters appeared to be good with their weapons, they didn't seem to be very challenging; hardly any fun for a skilled man like Houfu. When Jing took a stab at Houfu's foot, Houfu moved his foot to avoid for a second and quickly slammed his foot on the blade. Houfu then caught one of the swings of the hook swords and pushed it back so hard that the hilt slammed into hook wielder's right eye, making his yelp as he arched back a bit. Jing struggled to pull the spear back, but Houfu put a lot of weight in that foot to keep it to the ground.

"Get...off...my...spear!" Jing demanded in between tugs.

"Ok," Houfu replied. He complied, though unfortunately for Jing, it slammed into his nose.

"AGH Dammit!"

Houfu stepped back and waved his hands. "Hey, I just did what you told me to," Houfu said with a chuckle. After recuperating for a moment, the hook sword wielder stepped in front of Han. He removed his cloak to clear his vision. He looked to be about the age of 19, his hair was spiked brown and his eyes were green. He wore a blue jean-jacket and a black shirt that had a picture of a pair of hook swords that were crossed in a shape of an "X". He also wore jean pants and black sneakers.

He then charged at Houfu but stopped short as Houfu knocked the weapons right out of the guy's hands with his sword. He then threatened the man by pointing the tip of his blade at him. Not knowing what to do, the man decided on impulse to try to ask politely for the sword.

"Ehhrm...can I please have that sword?" he asked politely. Houfu cocked an eyebrow, confused a bit. He then shrugged and responded, "Okay."

"Really?!" the man queried in surprise. He really didn't expect that answer. He held out his arms, waiting for Houfu to give him the sword. Houfu tossed it to him which he caught, but his arms were quickly pulled down by a massive weight. The sword was surprisingly heavy, but what was even more surprising was that Houfu could hold it with ease.

"No, not really, Chuckles" Houfu responded.

Insulted at being called such a name, the man made a subconscious move to back himself up, "'Chuckles?!' My name is Xu, you jerk!" the guy hissed.

"Whatever. Bye-bye, Xu!" Houfu said as he dropkicked Xu hard enough to send him back. Just as Wu woke up decloaked. He looked just like Xu in every way except that the picture of the pair of hook swords on his shirt were in a shape of a Cross. He unexpectedly was toppled by Xu's incoming body, crashing him back into the log.

"Well, that was-" Houfu was trying to say until he was interrupted by a roar from Jing who was charging from behind. After avoiding a stab from Jing, Houfu caught the spear and pulled it hard enough along with Jing. He then elbowed Jing in the face and stabbed the spear into Jing's foot.

"AAAAAHH!!! YOU SON OF A BITCH!!!" Jing screamed as he hopped around trying to pull the spear out of his foot.

"As I was saying: Well, that was fun guys. You are quite the entertainment. I'd love to stay but I got to get going. So, I'll see you guys at the circus," Houfu said. He then turned to leave but in his way stood Han. Houfu sighed, "Come on, not this little dance again."

Han responded by cracking his knuckles. Houfu shrugged, "You're a persistent guy, aren't ya?" He then swung his blade at Han who, to Houfu surprise, caught it with one hand then threw it along with Houfu.

"SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!!!" Houfu screamed as he was flying in midair.

Han then picked up the log once again, with Wu and Xu still in it and threw it at Houfu, who caught himself on a branch. Seeing the log coming straight for him, Houfu jumped towards it with sword in hand. Having gotten to their feet, Wu and Xu looked around and noticed they were inside the log in the air. What really alarmed them was Houfu leaping at them ready to cut the log in half.

"Lord, help us," they said in unison. They closed their eyes, fearfully waiting for death.

Houfu then vertically sliced the log with his sword, but luckily not Wu and Xu, who were now standing on opposite halves of the log. However, sending Houfu used his legs to push the halves in opposite directions.

Xu screamed in terror as his half crashed into a tree followed by, along with the shattered wood pieces, he fell to the ground. Jing, sighed in relief as he finally got the spear out of his foot, the relief was short lived as Wu's half crashed into him.

Amazed at what just happened, Han was too shocked to move as he saw Houfu coming down on him with his sword, ready to turn him into a pair of thick chopsticks. However, just as Houfu landed on the ground, he held his sword to a stop with the blade just a millimeter from Han's forehead. Houfu laughed as he saw the big guy fall into a faint.

A few minutes later, the four attackers were tied together, hanging from a tree. Houfu looked up at them as he was finishing off the rest of his food.

"You guys really make me laugh. I expected beasts, other ninja, heck even a few missing-nin to attack me," he said with a chuckle as he took another bite. "But I never expected to be 'ambushed' by a bunch of street performers from China."

"You're not going to kill us, are you?" Wu asked a little afraid.

"If I wanted to kill you, you would've been dead before your little 'ambush' began," Houfu responded.

"Your right, we shouldn't have underestimated you. We're sorry," Xu pleaded with a bit of whining in his voice. Jing and Han were disgusted at the twins' cowardice.

"We never meant to do you any harm," Han said.

"Oh, really?" Houfu cocked an eyebrow.

"Seriously, we haven't eaten for days. We used to be street performers yes, but the finances have been somewhat slim. So we decided to go off on our own," Jing explained.

"So, you decided to leave your home in pursuit of living life traveling by stealing and killing people for their money?" Houfu was a bit confused, thinking their story was farfetched.

"You misunderstand, the only skills we have are performing martial arts. That's all we have to make it in this world. We were desperate," Jing explained.

Houfu nodded with a sarcastic grunt. "Uh huh, so where does the 'me not putting you in a world of pain' fit into this."

"Come on, be a bud here. Just let us go, please?" Han asked trying to give a puppy eyed look. But that only made Houfu want to vomit.

"Please, have pity on us! You're a fellow traveler, certainly you can understand our pain," the twins pleaded.

Houfu sighed. "Fine," he threw a kunai to cut them down. "And have some food," he through the rest of the deer meat for them to eat. "Be grateful, I haven't killed in a long time. And I like funny boys like you. Don't take advantage of my generosity," Houfu warned them.

"Thank you, kind sir!" the twins pleaded in unison with animated tears of joy coming down their face after they chewed on their first meat in a long time. Ah the hilarity of street performers.

"Anyway, just don't try to pick any fights with other people unless you're sure of their skills. Least of all, Shinobi," Houfu said. He then stood up and started to leave.

"Wait!" Jing exclaimed, stopping Houfu in his tracks. "Where are you headed?"

"I'm hunting. And there is a very valuable target that I'm having a hard time to catch," Houfu answered.

"Valuable?" Jing's eyes lit up at the mention of that word. "Let us help you. If you are willing to split to profit with us, we can assist you."

Houfu laughed at this. "What skills could you four possibly have? Who do you think you are?"

Han stood up. "I'm Zhang Han, as you've seen. I have incredible strength that would make even giants head for the hills."

The twins then stood up, "And we are the Guan Brothers, Wu and Xu. Our speed matches those of any agile ninja," they introduced in unison.

Jing bowed his head, "And I am Hong Jing, my cunning and leadership skills have leaded this group of travelers out of many dangers we have come across." He kneeled, "Please let us help you as well, for not only do we get rich reward, but we also have the satisfactory of helping a fellow traveler."

Houfu continued walking away, "Forget it. I don't play well with others, certainly not people with non ninja who could barely be a match for a genin."

"Come on, let us come!" Han exclaimed.

"No"

"We'll be your best friends!" the Guan brothers offered in unison, earning smacks to the head by the other two.

"No, you're lucky enough that you still have your limbs."

Jing ran after him and blocked his way. "Please, we have many skills that could be useful to you."-Houfu pushed him out of the way and continued walking-"Please, we can communicate almost every language known to man."

"Don't care!"

"Our persuasion techniques could rival those of any military officer!"

"Great, but not to me!"

"Please, our tracking skills are so great, that we could find a wild boar just from examining the fur that it leaves behind."

That stopped Houfu in his tracks. He turned around and wasn't sure if he heard right. "Say that again."

Jing raised an eyebrow but answered nonetheless, "I said our tracking skills are so great that-"he was stopped when Houfu hand his hand gripped by his collar.

"And you're saying that if I agree to split the profits with you, you can guarantee that I can catch up with my target?" Jing nodded.

Houfu let go of his collar. "Alright, I'll let you help me." Jing and the rest were about to thank him until he continued. "But…If I find out that you're lying, that your skills are less than inadequate. Not only will you get nothing, your limbs will be scattered in various countries across the land!" he warned with a glare.

Jing and the others gulped at the warning but agreed, with a guarantee that they won't fail. "We are at your service….ummm," he realized Houfu never introduced himself. "What was your name?"

Houfu grinned and decided to humor them, "The name's Houfu, Yokushin Houfu."

Jing bowed once again. "Who is the target that you are looking for, Houfu-sama?"

"Uzumaki Naruto"

Two days after the funeral, Sasuke was busy training, making sure to be on top of his game. He was greatly improving. It was a good thing too. Tayuya just huffed at Sasuke, who ignored it. He didn't need to be bothered by such insolence.

After two years, one would think she'd be somewhat placid towards him. She would've been as good as dead if he didn't rescue her from the rubble from that battle she had with Shikamaru and Temari. In truth she was actually grateful that he saved her. She knew Orochimaru would not have sent out anyone to check for their remaining nor would he care. He didn't seem all to caring that she was back at all. That and Sasuke was still her master. Orochimaru walked in the room smirking showing the side of his teeth with Kabuto strolling behind like a true lapdog.

"What reason do you have to smile for Orochimaru," Sasuke spoke coldly. Kabuto only sighed at his lack of respect.

Orochimaru was used to the way Sasuke spoke by now, not liked it ever bothered him in the first place. "Well Sasuke, I just came back from an investigation and just discovered that at approximately nine days ago, that Uzumaki Naruto was announced dead." He quickly explained what he had heard letting Sasuke soaked it all in. "If I'm correct, which I'm not too sure, they said the person that killed him could have had red eyes. I'm not entirely sure though. Tragic really, and to think he could have made an excel ninja. You may continue your training." He then let his body disappear in the darkness. Kabuto left the premise as well only leaving Sasuke to gravel in his would be sob.

Sasuke looked completely out of it, eyes widen and all. He couldn't believe it. The person he would have thought to be invincible is dead. He wouldn't believe it. Yet he had to face facts. What ulterior motive would Orochimaru have behind lying about something as serious as that? He couldn't quite calculate whether Itachi really killed him or not. But then again according to Orochimaru's story he was killed openly. So it couldn't been his brother since he needed Naruto alive for the Kyuubi extraction. He fell on his knees as he covered his eyes. This pain; this pain felt terrible. It felt worse than when he almost killed him at the Valley of the End. It was much worse. The pain was so much worse, he felt like Kakashi just struck his heart with a Chidori on a 50 fold level. It was his fault. It was his fault Naruto was dead. That's what he believed anyway. If he just listened to Sakura from the beginning and stayed in the village. Sakura's promise didn't matter seeing as Naruto would have come for him regardless just for her. For the first time since the massacre of his clan he cried. Tears poured down his face knowing it was his fault that Naruto was dead. That pain wouldn't go away.

"Ah so that brat Naruto is dead eh?" Tayuya wore a smug look. "It was bound to happen soon. He was a completely incompetent ninja as far as I've seen; total loser if you ask me." Hearing his best friend being referred to as that only fueled Sasuke's anger as tears ran down his face. This was surely fun for Tayuya. "To think the great Uchiha Sasuke would cry over one child. I don't know why you even bother to call a loser like that your friend. Totally-"

"Shut up." Tayuya looked at Sasuke with sudden appall.

"What did you say to me you sack of shit, duck ass?"

Sasuke stood up his face contorted in rage, still his eyes shut. "I said, SHUT UP!!"

The last part he cried opening his eyes revealing something new. It was his Mangekyou Sharingan. It had three triangular points creating something of an upside down Y with triangles and red space in between each eye (think of Sasuke's manga version of Mangekyou Sharingan but with a triangle missing opposite it's polar. If you never seen it, look it up.). One minute passed as they seemingly looked in one another's eyes before Tayuya screamed loudly and fell flat on the floor her eyes open wide and drool passing from her mouth. Kabuto ran in the room asking what happen, while Orochimaru reappeared from the shadows.

"What happened here?" Kabuto asked calmly.

Orochimaru explained calmly what happened, smiling throughout the whole explanation. Kabuto nodded and took Tayuya to a room to let her rest until he was ready to treat her.

'_Yes, this is perfect. Sasuke got the Mangekyou at last. Maybe that lie about there being red eyes help push it. Now transferring bodies will be all the more invigorating._'

Sasuke simply stood there while everyone else left.

"Naruto, my best friend, you dobe, why'd you have to die," he whispered silently tears flowing down his face. This was the first time since his clan was massacred did he cry. It would be a while before he would do it again.

JGOG132: Well that takes care of that chapter.

Ndasuunye: Yeah, I guess Houfu wasn't aware of what happened to Naruto.

Naruto: (popped up out of nowhere) What happened to me?

Ndasuunye: HOLY HELL! YOU'RE AWAKE?!

JGOG132: I told ya!

Naruto: What happened to me?

JGOG132: You're dead.

Naruto: No, I'm not.

Ndasuunye: Yes, you are.

Naruto: Uhhh noooo, as you can see I'm right here duuuhh!

JGOG132: We didn't mean dead here, we meant (he sighed) on second thought, no point in explaining.

Ndasuunye: Agreed. R&R, readers!

**Alright folks, I know you been waiting for a long while now. And were hoping for some 12 year timeskip action, but unfortunately, my co-author, had so much to let out on this chapter, I couldn't fit any more space of the time skip on here for that. But to make up that, my co-author, JGOG132 had made a quite funny fight scene as you are well aware. Now what bothers me is that so many people put this story on alert (which I'm so glad of), but not that many review like I'd hope. Come one people, it's not that hard. Just write out how you feel about each chapter after the read. Nothing to it. If you were to ask me to read and review, I would do it. So come, on, a review is not too much to ask for is it? Well, now that I'm a 12****th**** grader, I have a hell of a lot on my plate. From school, to work, to piano lessons to band practice and beyond. I will have trouble writing, but don't think that means I will stop all together. Oh no, I'll keep it going. For the fans and myself. Well that's all. Review and keep eye on your email for the next chapter. Ja Ne**


	5. RETURNER

Ndasuunye: Hey there, readers! Sorry for the big long delay but-(interrupted gagging noises of JGOG132) Well, if it isn't my co-author, the lovable JGOG132. How're you doing there, J?

(JGOG132 answers in gagging response as he currently in Shikamaru's Shadow Strangulation Jutsu)

Shikamaru: Can I stop this? The noises coming out of his mouth is beginning to get very troublesome. Plus, this seems distasteful.

Ndasuunye: In a sec. (Turns to JGOG132) So, now do you understand what happens when you delay the continuation of the story? A lot of people may have cancelled out on me due to your incompetence on completing the 2nd half soon enough. What do you have to say for yourself? (He gestures for Shikamaru to release the jutsu. The Nara heir obliges, having the co-author drop to his knees gasping for air.)

JGOG132: (breathing heavily) I swear...it wasn't my fault! There's...a lot of stuff going...on for me since I'm nearing graduation, plus...writer's block is a bitch. You can understand that,...right?

Ndasuunye: Sure, I can. But to not find even enough free time in your schedule for (insert the length of the delay here) is completely incompetent on your part. I have half a mind to fire you right now.

JGOG132: (Stands up) Come on, be reasonable. I promise this won't happen again. I can flex more time, if only the duration that you choose is reas-(he stops as he notices a certain blonde yes-man's absence. He looks around.) Where's Naruto?

Ndasuunye: Oh, he's a bit...."tied up at the moment".

(Shikamaru looks down while shaking his head trying not to laugh)

JGOG132: Oh my god,...what did you do?!

(Meanwhile, in an abandoned basement, Naruto is tied to a chair watching "The Finale" episode from _Seinfeld_ over and over again due to it being put on repeat. Naruto is hysterical.)

Naruto: AAAAHHHH!!!! THIS EPISODE IS THE WORST OF THE SERIES!!!! HELP ME!!!!! AAHHHHH!!!!

(Back to the three)

JGOG132: You bastard! That torture technique was my idea; I was going to use it on him, you thief!

Shikamaru: Did uuh the plan include the rest of your _Seinfeld _DVDs being burned to ashes?

JGOG132: WHAT?! (He glares at Ndasuunye, who howls in laughter. JGOG132 lunges at him) YOU SON OF A BITCH!!!

(Shikamaru catches him in the Strangulation Jutsu once more)

**Disclaimer: **Ndasuunye: Haha serves you right! I don't own Naruto or any of its characters, nor does my co-author, JGOG132. Right, J!

JGOG132: (Manages to spew out through the gagging) Feck you!

Ndasuunye: I'm sorry, I don't speak German.

**Returner ~Yami no Shuuen**

The forest behind them was quiet. Being on guard truly sucked these days, well most days it sucked. They didn't have intruders every now and then. But they didn't wish upon such negative things. Sure the other part of their job was to check their visitors and inform the Hokage of them but, that still didn't make it any less boring. Both still wondered why they were here this afternoon instead of acting as Tsunade's personal assistants.

"Because Izumo, Tsunade assigned us to this post."

"Damn, this fucking sucks."

"Ah well what can we do? Hokage-sama gave us an order and-"

Kotetsu stopped abruptly as he heard a noise behind him. He quickly looked behind him to see what the disturbance was.

"Kotetsu, what's wrong?"

Kotetsu said nothing as he pulled out a kunai holding it in front of his face defensively. Izumo noticing what the problem was followed suit.

"Identify yourselves; who are you and what is your purpose here?" Izumo stated crouching a bit.

"We need not answer to you," said the only visible face of the appearing trio in a monotone voice. The person from the right had a scarf covering the mouth and the person on the left had a mask on.

"We'll ask you once more. Tell us now what is your purpose here or we will not hesitate to strike." Kotetsu glared hard at the group which was in fact the disturbance.

"Then violence it shall come to." The person then flicked a kunai, simultaneously with the scarf clad person, at the pair. They blocked with ease but suddenly came face to face with an incoming foot. Izumo blocked the foot in scarce time, but wasn't fast enough as a fist had come; too quickly to dodge. The fist never hit him though as it flung back due to Kotetsu catching and pushing it back at the last second. As the masked person was pushed back, the person quickly threw a kunai at a slower rate at their opponent. Seeing how it came at a slow pace, Kotetsu easily caught it. However, when he looked at it, his eyes widened as he let go of it soon afterwards; no soon enough before the exploding tag on the kunai activated causing a small bang but enough to make a good loud sound and cause dirt to raise.

The dust soon cleared though as a gust of wind from the trio's newly made side came barreling at both Kotetsu and Izumo. It was coming too fast for them to dodge. Just as they were about to get hit though, a sword had swung at the gust of wind, breaking through it, causing it to pass.

Now in front of them were two females. One was about 175.3cm (5'9"ft) in height and had long blonde hair tied in single long familiar ponytail which reached her mid-back. Her bang was located right next to her right eye reaching as low as a little below her chin. She had blue-green, turquoise eyes. Her outfit now was currently consisting of a purple sleeveless buttoned shirt that went up to her stomach with a fitting collar around the neck, a purple skirt with a slit on the right side that reached a little above her ankles, her tool pouch located on her right thigh, and fish net mesh on her ankles, left thigh and elbow. Strapped to the woman's back was a sheath as its sword was held onto by its wielder.

The second woman looked around the same height with bright bubblegum pink hair that was mid-back length and green eyes. She wore a familiar red jacket like shirt where the zipper curves on top of a white short-sleeve shirt, a simple blue skirt with a split on the right, and a tool pouch wrapped on her right leg.

"See Ino, told you it was a good idea for us to carry some weapons on our persons just in case," yelled the pink haired female.

"Well, I guess this is that just case, huh. Kotetsu, Izumo, go inform Tsunade of these three, we'll apprehend them," yelled the blond haired female, tightening her grip around the sword.

"Hai." As both men ran off towards the Hokage Tower, the blond called Ino watched, expecting the enemy to try and stop them. Instead all she saw was the visible faced male watch them run, not even looking concerned. Though a bit confused at that, she didn't let her guard down.

"What do you want here that you had to attack them?"

The man shrugged. "I only want for us to pass. They wouldn't let us pass so we tried by force. We weren't trying to kill them."

This man sounded a bit too relaxed for such a situation. And, apparently, he was as well as his partners as the pink haired female had snuck up behind him, unbeknownst to him it would seem. She jumped him and a dust cloud enveloped the two as they scurried. It quickly cleared and now the man was tied with a deadpan expression.

"Good work Sakura. This guy obviously took us way too lightly," Ino said, whilst sticking her tongue at the newly captive.

The pink haired female called Sakura smirked and turned around as she looked at the other two. What was confusing was the fact that they were laughing.

"Why are you guys laughing," Sakura said, frowning along with Ino. Was there something she was missing? Their partner is tied up. They jumped as the tied up man started to yell.

"What the hell, guys! Why didn't you tell me she was behind me? I let my down guard down for a second and suddenly you let her turn me into wrangled cattle!

"Hey you should have noticed her behind you instead of not paying attention, you moron. Don't blame us due to your age catching up to your awareness," said one of the two boys. Neither girl could tell who said it since both of them had their mouth covered up. But it didn't matter as a clone of Ino and Sakura had also snuck up on the other two getting the same results. It was a dust cloud and then two tied up members.

"Ha, age before beauty, jackasses! This is why the older and more experienced always triumph over the young and naive," the first captive teased with smugness.

"Fuck you, old man!" the two snapped in unison.

"Ino let's just go. I really need to get back to the hospital."

"Yeah yeah, alright Sakura."

The trip back to the Hokage Tower was quite funny actually. The only visible face of the trio actually tried to keep flirting with Ino and Sakura which landed him several bumps all over his head. The other two comrades couldn't stop laughing at him although the one with the scarf laughed softer but laughed nonetheless. By the time they got to the front of the office door, Ino couldn't take it anymore and threw him right through the door causing the Hokage to duck as he slowly slid down the glass window onto the floor.

"So,...I'm guessing that's a 'no' for a drink?" the dazed captive asked nonchalantly.

"Hokage-sama, please do something with this guy because he's really pissing me off and if he tries to flirt with me one more time, I will stick a kunai right up his ass."

The Hokage straightened herself up as she literally dragged the guy to the lineup on the floor with his other two companions. She stared at them diligently, with the one with the scarf giving the Hokage a deadpan look, the visible faced one a big goofy grin and the masked one was obviously unreadable.

"They're all clones," she said flatly.

"What!?" Ino and Sakura shouted in surprise.

"They're clones. I can't say I really expect you to know that they are, but they are unique clones. The jutsu isn't really common, or at least I hope it still isn't common, since it was made by a person I know. Alright you can come out wherever you are…Satoshi."

Suddenly a man who looked like the same one tied up appeared from the side of wall scaring the two younger ninja. He was very handsome with little sign of aging around his face. He had little below shoulder length messy brown spiked hair and emerald green eyes. He stood at 180.3cm (5'11"ft) tall and wore a simple garment consisting of a short sleeved simple black vest with three pockets and a long sleeved light blue shirt underneath and a simple pair of black pants with a tool pouch wrapped around the right leg and a dark blue hooded cloak over it all. As he appeared from the shadows of the wall, he did his usual greetings to Tsunade.

"Tsunade-hime my love, how are you this fine day!" He ran right at her, his arms extended ready to give her a loving comedic hug. She performed her usual reaction. He ran right into her fist.

"I see we're cheerful as usual," Satoshi said in a muffled voice due to his face still rammed into Tsunade's fist and slowly slid to the floor, his nose bleeding.

"Kami, must we go through this every time, Satoshi?" Tsunade asked sighing in aggravation tone as she massaged her temples.

"What did you do this time," asked a dull voice. All four current people looked towards the source of the voice which was the right of the room and slowly a second body emerged from the wall this one who was the real version of the current clone on the floor with the scarf around his mouth and nose. He entered the light and they all observed him for a moment.

"So I'm guessing I'm the last to be revealed huh?" the voice sounded like it was coming from inside something. Suddenly another and final person appeared but right behind both girls, causing them to momentarily shriek.

"Haha, what were you doing behind the girls eh young man?"

The masked person craned his head around to look at Satoshi and notice he was indeed behind a pair of girls. He suddenly appeared by Satoshi shocking all the females. They took a good look at both newcomers as well. The one with the mask seemed about 182.3cm (5'11.8"ft) and his entire head was undeterminable since his mask had a sort of fabric attached to it to cover the rest of the young man's head. His mask deciphered the look that of a fox. The base color was white and there were three red lines on both cheeks of the mask. The masked man wore a baggy black pants with the ends tucked in mid calve high black sandals, and long sleeve shirt with a neck collar having only the left sleeve attached and the right was short sleeve up to the mid biceps and the rest of the arm covered in a sleeve style fishnet all under a simple black hood cloak with an orange line at the zipper.

The last was about 199.1cm (6'6"ft [**A/N Nda: Hey I'm 6'4" and I'm only 17. So don't be surprised by these height estimates]**)brown skinned and had long black spiky hair that reached towards the middle of his back and sporadic upright hair with two locks framing his adult like face. It was kind of hard to determine exactly what he looked like with the long scarf over his nose and mouth, but he had nice brown eyes which currently had a hard stare to them, giving off a handsome vibe to the girls. He was wearing a shirt similar to the masked person only his was dark gray with thin white lines going vertically and the collar was up to his chin fully zipped. His left sleeve was long but he had no right sleeve unlike his friend and wore black gloves. His pants were loose being cargo design navy blue with a tool pouch wrapped around his right leg and two extra pockets, one on each leg and brown sandals. His shoulders hoisted rounded black what could be determined as shoulder pads. On top of it all was a light brown hood cloak which was half way open from the bottom and a double strap connecting to a scabbard on his back sheathing some type of sword with a straight cross patched brown and yellow wrapped hilt curving at the end. The guard was circular with a serpent dragon design.

"Alright Satoshi, undo your clones now. It's annoying enough that I have to look at **one **of you," said Tsunade nonchalantly.

"So cold, my Tsunade-hime." Satoshi's side soon caught a momentary frostbite whimpering a bit. A poof was heard and the three males on the ground dispersed in a puff of smoke evaporating from the room.

"Anyway Satoshi, what are we doing here? I don't see any purpose of us being here," said the man with the scarf over his face dully. The man with the mask over his head nodded in agreement.

"Gentlemen, gentlemen please. Just watch and find out, alright?"-he mutters to himself thought loud enough for his partners to hear-"Kids today are so impatient," he said ignoring the obscene gesture that the other two made at him with their middle fingers with a huff.

Ino leaned towards Sakura. "He seems to be the head of the group," whispered Sakura to Ino.

"Yeah, but his childish attitude seems to scream otherwise. Honestly, I wanted to kill him while we took his clone here."

"Anyway Tsunade-chan, my mission is complete. Helping out that village was pretty easy even with two groups of bandits there. Now for my pay please, _full pay._"

She sighed. He never made her pay full price. Must have now since he was in front of his team. Oh well, at least he was considerate as she saw the slight embarrassment on his face. It was then that somebody else decided to come into the room. "Ah Shikamaru, Temari you're back. I assume everything went well with the mission."

That made the scarf clad man called Katsuo turn around in a heartbeat.

"Oh Katsuo, what are you doing here?" Temari asked a little surprised her friend was actually in Konoha. Standing at 175cm(5'8".9ft), she was wearing a simple long black short sleeved dress with a slit on the right side of the dress starting at the base of the thigh with a red obi wrapped above the waist, black fingerless gloves and a black fan strapped to her back.

"T-T-Temari-san, hello. I didn't think you would be here at all," Katsuo his voice a little lighter now and a blush across his face. That totally changed what the three initial females thought of this person. At first, Tsunade, Sakura and Ino thought he Katsuo and the masked man were uptight and bitter but now, the shyness withering about Katsuo caused them to giggle in amusement.

"Yeah well I had to take care of some paper bound work with this guy," she pointed to Shikamaru, who didn't seem to care being referred to as 'this guy'. A cough was heard which was found to be sourced from Satoshi as he had his hand across his hand pretending to be professional. **(I'm sorry, but what was the point of the cough. Is that implying something?)**

"Anyway," started Shikamaru in a bored tone. "Yeah, everything went as planned. We confirmed that the next Chuunin exams would take place in Sunagakure no Sato. We also had made some plans to tighten security; although, they aren't done yet since there are some loose ends to tighten up and such."

"Ok I see. Jounin Shikamaru, I would like for you and Temari to debrief me fully on the mission details in 3 hours."

Shikamaru raised a brow. He guessed she must have had some urgent business to take care of if she didn't want the details now. He only shrugged and complied.

"Well I better get back to the hospital guys. I'm already late. This was fun but see ya." In a puff of smoke, she vanished. Soon after, Ino and Shikamaru then left since they had to get back to their duties, now leaving only five being Tsunade, Katsuo, Satoshi, Temari and the unnamed kitsune masker.

"Anyway, since you decided to bring along your teammates you told me about a few times prior, who exactly are they?" Tsunade asked curious to see if they were anybody of importance.

"Ah right intro cha." That made his teammates look to the side in annoyance. This guy and his crazy sayings. "Alright the one with the scarf is Baku Katsuo , also known as Baku, according to Satoshi, only looked with disinterest as if Satoshi didn't even say his alias. "And the one with the kitsune mask is Akai no Kaze."

To say she was surprised was a shock. She would have never have thought her own Satoshi was hanging around with well known hunter-nin such as them. She knew he was powerful, that no doubt but for him to have been acquaintances with such people…..wow. That's all there was to it was wow. She refocused herself on the three in front. She couldn't keep a straight face and smirked at the very least.

"Wow Satoshi, to think you would be associating yourself with such powerful men. That's a big accomplishment."

Before she could say another sentence, he dashed in front of her, big puppy dog eyes aglow with a huge grin on his face.

"Oh, Tsunade finally acknowledges my worth! Bless it be! Maybe now you would want to go-ACK!"

He was now holding his head trying soothe his newly large bump on his head.

"DON'T TRY YOUR LUCK YOU IMBECILE!"

Both boys only shook their heads at their friend's impudence. How did they become friends with such a clown like this guy? Satoshi started to stagger back up still smiling sheepishly like nothing happened.

"Oh Tsunade, do you think you can call Baku by the alias instead of his real name. At least when around unfamiliar ears at least?"

"What are you talking about? You didn't tell me Baku's real name."

Satoshi was a little surprised to hear that. He would have thought she heard Temari call Katsuo by his real name. "His name is Shimanaka Katsuo. Anyway Tsunade-chan, didn't you want to discuss about something with me?"

"Ah you're right. But what about your friends here? You can't just leave them to sit in the dust like that.

As if on cue, dust started to attract towards them like they were dust magnets or something.

"Sure I can. They can roam around the village for a while until I'm done. Alright now off with you all. Shoo, shoo." After pushing all three kids out the main office, making the comedic shoo gestures with his hands, he quickly slammed the door right in their faces, smiling like a madman all the while. Katsuo thought he was getting a break which he was sorely mistaken. The soreness mostly coming from his ear as he was pulled roughly by it by Temari.

"Alright come with me, you little shit. Who the hell do you think you are that you can't visit my village for four months straight? I ought to kick your ass right here and now for it."

Katsuo's eyes pleaded for help which Akai no Kaze only smirked under his mask. Katsuo wanted to throttle him for that. Despite not seeing his face, he could always tell what he was thinking, like brothers of the sort.

'_Jeez, it's a wonder those two don't go out,_' thought Akai no Kaze to himself. While still hearing Temari yelling, he thought he better have a look at the old village. He was unfamiliar with it after so many years of absence from it. It sort of looked different from the last time he was here. For instance, they seemed to have added the face of the Godaime Hokage finally. There was a bit more trees in certain areas and the homes seemed to have wood on top of concrete or stone now. Probably to make the house look nice or something. Plus, homes were looking more artistic or floral like. The apartment buildings seemed to be much better looking in comparison to what it was last time Akai was here. Although he didn't know exactly where he was going, he subconsciously went to a familiar ramen shop; Ichiraku Ramen shop to be exact. As soon as he became aware of it, he stopped right in front of it. It seemed a bit nostalgic. He wondered how much it changed since he was last here. The flaps covering the inside seemed to be more artistically designed, but not too over the top. Simple, yet nice to look at. There were now yellow lamp balls there instead of the regular orange. He entered it, and saw one female and two other men there as well. She seemed pretty and intellectual as she greeted him with a welcome smile. The other two seemed to be klutz of goofballs due to one having dropped a hot pot of broth because of him not wearing gloves and the other having accidentally sneezed into the dough he was mixing. The seats were almost always full so they were doing well he guessed. He sat down on one of the open stools in between one hefty looking guy and another guy. The hefty guy seemed to be talking to some guy with traditional robes with pale eyes. Akai no Kaze didn't know what they were talking about nor was he concerned. He also wasn't concerned with the odd stares towards him from the two either.

"Umm hello, may I have one large bowl of Miso Ramen with a few slices of Naruto in them please?"

"Sure thing," said the woman as she ordered one of the boys to make the dish.

"Umm excuse me miss, wasn't there an older person working here as well?"

"You must mean my father. He passed away a few years ago? Must be pretty famous for a foreigner to know about him."

He felt a familiar feeling come to mind as he processed what she said. The old man was dead, huh? Probably died in the small attack that he heard occurred here. He was a good man from what Akai remembered.

"Ah thank you for the delicious ramen, Ayame-chan. It was truly delicious," said the hefty one suddenly.

"Anytime Chouji. I'm guessing you and Neji-san got to get going already?"

This time the pale eyed one referred to as Neji spoke up. "Yeah, we got to get going on this mission."

"Alright then, I'll see you guys later."

They quickly disappeared through the flaps as Akai's food came. Ayame told him the price but once she did, he was gone and so was the food. She was about to protest about a thief until she saw the necessary money lying on the table. That eased her spirits; ninja always got to be in hurry, don't they?

Thirty minutes passed and now he passed by a dango shop which he saw Katsuo unwilling about to order something for him and Temari. He chuckled as he walked. They never ceased to amuse him. Yet he wasn't watching where he was going causing him to bump into a boy. Unfortunately for him, the boy was in a pretty shitty mood at the moment.

"Watch where you're going, you idiot!"

He quickly brushed himself off before replying.

"Well I was going to apologize for bumping into you but, with such an attitude like that, you can go fuck off, sir," he said calmly, before looking up at who he was talking to.

It was some boy fully garbed in a casual outfit consisting of brown ankle length pants with a weapons pouch wrapped in black wrappings on his left leg, a short sleeved gray jacket with black fur hemming around the rims of the sleeves and the hood which was currently off on top of a long sleeved white shirt with pockets on the sleeves of the shirt. He had messy brown hair and dark slit-like eyes, light skin and two red marks under his eyes that reached right above his mouth. The boy looked really pissed now after Akai said that.

"You want to say that again, you little shit whoever you are?" A growl was heard but it wasn't from the boy. From behind him, a huge white dog with brown going down the ears appeared looking fierce. Of course, that didn't scare the hunter-nin at all.

"I said: "You. Can. Go. Fuck. Off, sir," Akai replied slowly enough to get the message clear.

That did it for the boy. Both he and the large dog ran at him with no more words. Akai simply put his hands on the dog's head and the boy's shoulder as they came close enough flipping over them with no difficulty at all. Once he landed on the ground, Akai quickly lunged at the boy and push his knee in the boy's back before the boy even had a chance to turn around. Now lying on his stomach, Akai knee still dug in his back, the dog almost rushed the hunter-nin from behind but only plopped his large body on top of his friend since Akai had disappeared right before his eyes. They were both shocked and now in pain as senbon were plunged lightly in both their backs with them looking at Akai feet as they growled in pain. Akai kneeled to their eye level (well as far down as he could kneel since they were flat on the floor). For some strange reason neither organisms could get up and could only try and look into the holes of the hunter-nin's mask that held his eyes, though the inside was too dark for them to see.

"What, what did you do to us? Why can't we move?" asked the boy.

"That's simple, for the fact that those were special kind of senbon that I threw in your backs containing tranquil liquid that paralyzes muscle tissue; it immobilizes you for 10 minutes. If you weren't so arrogant to pick a fight with me this wouldn't have happened, you fucktard."

That sent the boy and dog in a rage of howls and curses which was heard in a 10 meter radius. Suddenly Katsuo, Temari, and a boy that had a hooded cloak on and black glasses completely shrouding his face, and one beautiful girl with pale eyes and long flowing dark blue hair appeared before them.

"What's going on here?" asked the girl.

"Apparently Kiba got into yet another quarrel with somebody but this time got in over his head and both he and Akamaru fell to this masked stranger," the hooded boy said in a calculating tone of voice.

"What did you do this time, guy?" asked Katsuo, apparently sort of frustrated. Temari also looked frustrated for some odd reason. Yet Akai was only looking at the pale eyed girl when he heard the question. He quickly explained to them what happened.

"We sincerely apologize for our friend's adolescent-like behavior," the hooded boy said, whilst the girl was pulling the senbon out. She lifter her friend to his feet and shoved him to force out his apology.

"I just had a rough day is all. Hopefully, you don't hold that against me, Mr.….umm what's your name? I didn't quite catch it."

Akai didn't respond for a moment. He was still taking in the pale eyed girl's visage.

"My name……is Akai no Kaze."

A figure wearing a black cloak with red cloud textile across it, mid length black hair walked alongside a larger man with the same cloak on and blue skin with bizarre what seemed to look like something of gills or some type or marks under his eyes. Both of them had slashed across their headbands the larger one with a kirigakure headband while the shorter one had a Konohagakure headband. They were currently in the forest and they both seemed to be meditating. Finally the shark looking one opened his eyes to speak.

"It seems as though we were early Itachi, nobody was there."

The black haired man called Itachi opened one eye dully looking at the shark man.

"I see, then we shall wait. This information is important and we can't allow it to go without Pein-sama knowing. You know the information I'm speaking of don't you Kisame?"

"Ah I know," replied the shark man known as Kisame.

Itachi thought back as to how this whole ordeal took place. He still could remember what happened. 8 years ago. They were all discussing what to do after the attempted defection of Sasuke. Their partner, a plant like human that resembled a Venus fly trap his body split in two shades; one white while the other pure black, told them of the battle and how the Kyuubi jinchuuriki won. They also heard about how he was banished through tell tale miscellaneous mouths and the official defection of Sasuke from his village. They decided to go about waiting for 2 ½ years until they sought the Kyuubi vessel again. Yet something messed them up completely. After two years from the Kyuubi container's departure from Konoha, the vessel and its content, the Kyuubi no Youkou disappeared from the earth due to death. Itachi was the first to suspect it be so since he had the best connections. Pein himself wanted to make double sure this was true and gather as much Intel as possible only to come up to the conclusion that Itachi was right and their entire plan was ruined. With the Kyuubi gone, Pein's vision of being a greater god only became much harder. So they tried to simply make alliances and other various ideas which only lengthened the master plan to 6 more years. So until the six years past, they broke off each staying with their partner. A man named Tobi soon joined as a new partner to Diedara since he failed in capturing the Ichibi jinchuuriki. Now group kept to their own devices while still helping Pein with his idea of ruling the world.

Now Itachi saw and heard some things about red chakra and such and especially with the various wars going one today there was so much going on. It was probably time to hire those hunter nin again.

The Rain Jounin stood nervously in the village leader's office with his leader glaring at him with impatient eyes. He knew how his leader reacted to bad news and, judging from the cracking of the knuckles coming from the leader hands as he had his chin rested on the, he got the vibe that he might just know how bad the news was.

"Well, out with it!" the village leader demanded, his patience wearing out after 2 minutes.

The jounin began to report, clearly nervous "U-um...l-l-leader-sama, we've received a r-recent report from our delivering convoy in Rice Country that it was raided by a group of bandits led b-by....." He hesitated, jerking his face towards the wooden floor, before continuing, fearing he might next be facing broken glass and earthly ground.

"Led by who?" the leader asked in a cold voice with a growl.

The Jounin slowly tilted his head till his eyes were in the field of vision of his leader's eyes, still shaking. "I-it...was Houfu, my lord." He braced himself for the wrath he feared. Instead he heard a calm voice coming from his leader.

"What's the casualty count?"

"My lord, the count is 15 dead and one injured: 7 dead Chuunin, 3 dead Jounin, 6 shippers with one in critical condition."

"Anything else?"

The messenger shook his head. "Sh-should I leave now?"

The village leader looked at him with a calm expression and gave a tiny smile. "Yes...you can **leave**."

A moment later, two Rain village residents witnessed the screaming Jounin breaking through the leader's tower window and crashing to the ground.

JGOG132: Holy crap, I'd hate to be **that **guy.

Shikamaru: This is why it's so troublesome to be leading a village.

JGOG132: You say everything that doesn't relate to cloud watching or Shogi is troublesome.

Shikamaru: That's cause everything else is.

JGOG132: Including these pictures of you and Temari skinny dipping at Lake Tahoe? (Showing said pictures with copies with a devilish smirk)

Ndasuunye: WHAT?!

Shikamaru: (backing up as Ndasuunye walks toward him, fuming) I swear we didn't do anything! It was part of the stakes of a shogi game we played! I lost!

Ndasuunye: The game ain't going to be the only thing you lost, you traitorous little putz! I'LL KILL YOU! (Starts chasing after Shikamaru, axe in hand)

Shikamaru: AH DAMN! GAMBLING'S SO TROUBLESOOOOOME!

JGOG132: (Gazes at the photos with a smirk on his face) Wow, Temari-chan, must've been cold out. (He gets a kunai to the back, causing him to drop the photos. Ndasuunye starts chasing after him as well.)

JGOG132: UNTIL NEXT TIME, READERS R&RRRRR! (He runs in line with Shikamaru as they run for their lives from the homicidal Ndasuunye)

**Alright guys there is this chapter. I'm sorry for the super extreme long delay. As JGOG132 said earlier, I was waiting for him to do a certain part of the story for me but you know he took too long and I just started this myself. I also apologize for how shitty the Akatsuki portion was but it wasn't that important and such and I didn't really have a good idea for it and just waiting to get an idea was a bad idea so I just winged it. I knew some of you wanted to know what happened to Akatsuki in the last chapter so that's why it's here in this chapter. I forgot to put it in the last chapter. Anyway please review and I'm still happy for all the alerts I've been receiving after how long I been delayed. I'm not exactly sure what Baku means so ask JGOG since he gave me the name. Also in a few chapters, there will be yet another new character introduced in the story but she will be just from another anime. Well ja ne. Nda out also JGOG I'm looking at a photo of Hinata haha. Also a excerpt of the next chapter for whoever can guess where the title of this chapter comes from. I can tell you know it's Japanese but that's the only hint I'm giving you. Good luck.**


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